DENVER (AP) – Denver’s 16th Street Mall is unparalleled in its ability to move people from one end of downtown to the other. But getting them to hang out? Not so much. As the mall approaches its 33rd birthday, officials are searching for ways to revitalize the one-mile corridor. It attracts thousands of people each day but scares away others because of its urban grittiness.
“It’s obviously an incredibly successful transit mall,” said Brad Buchanan, executive director of Denver Planning and Community Development. “But the issue is how to create a sense of place that attracts people and gets them to linger.”
Lingering, if not a part of every planner’s lexicon, is viewed as a vital objective in improving the mall’s economic health and social desirability.
When Denver city officials and a high-profile outside consultant began last year to study the mall, a surprising revelation came to light.
While thousands of people traverse the mall each day on foot or via shuttle bus, an extraordinarily low number of them stop to enjoy their surroundings.
According to the consultant – Copenhagen, Denmark-based Gehl Architects – vibrant urban corridors such as Broadway in New York City and Covent Garden in London have a common element: One-quarter to one-third of their pedestrians stop to converse, window-shop or even just sit for a few minutes on a bench.
But when researchers last summer observed one of the busiest sections of the 16th Street Mall, the block from Stout to Champa streets, they found that only 1 percent of pedestrians lingered.
“I’m surprised there are not more people spending time on the mall,” said Jeff Risom, a Denver native who manages Gehl’s U.S. operations from a Copenhagen office. “It’s the most important street in the city, but it is surprisingly underperforming in relation to its potential.”
Gehl is working with the Denver planning office and the Downtown Denver Partnership under a $650,000 initiative called “The Mall Experience: The Future of Denver’s 16th Street Mall.”
No recommendations have been made or permanent actions taken. Yet planners are likely to push for “pedestrianizing” the mall, possibly by changing or restricting the use of RTD’s Free MallRide shuttles along 16th Street.
A preliminary report from Gehl states: “16th Street is already a vital bus corridor. It is time to reimagine ... opportunities for more freedom of mobility – walk, bike, car share, etc.”
A diagram in the report illustrating how downtown might be transformed shows buses running on 15th and 17th streets, but only pedestrians and bicycles on 16th.
