Big changes ahead for RTD’s Civic Center Station [Denver Business Journal]

Jun 24, 2015

Denver Business Journal

The successful renovation of the aging, dilapidated Denver Union Station into a vibrant transportation hub at the center of billions of dollars worth of new development has city boosters and the Regional Transportation District taking a hard look at Civic Center Station.
There, the more than three-decades-old, bunker-like, concrete bus station lurks under a sunny plaza at the corner of the 16th Street Mall and Broadway.

It’s the hub for 18 RTD bus routes serving an average of 15,000 passengers a day, and also serves as a turnaround point for the 16th Street Free MallRide shuttle.

RTD is now reviewing bids from contractors for peeling back the roof of the plaza and building a white-canopied, glass-walled, sun-filled transportation hub.

And a larger conversation also is starting about how the transformation of Civic Center Station might lead to bigger changes throughout the larger upper downtown area. The estimated cost for the base construction of that project is between $17 million and $23 million.

“We have this beautiful station at one end of our mall, so we thought let’s put something pretty at the other end too,” said Tina Jaquez, an RTD spokeswoman.

And that, said John Desmond, the executive vice president of the Downtown Denver Partnership, “precipitated a larger discussion about what’s the future of Civic Center Station, and what’s the future of things around it?”

RTD and its partners — the city of Denver, theDowntown Denver Partnership and Downtown Denver Business Improvement District — on Thursday afternoon will have a “Day of Engagement” at the plaza, 1560 Broadway, hoping to get an idea of how people who use the station would like to see the area changed.

RTD and others will be at the plaza between 11:30 a.m. and 6:30 p.m.

“It’s to let people know what we’re looking at doing and getting input on what people would like to see in that place,” Jaquez said.

RTD has created a website, available here, outlining its plan for the station as well as the study of the larger area.

The changes at the station are fairly straight forward, but far-reaching.

The new station design proposes a complete renovation of the site including:

Nine bus bays.
Glass-enclosed terminal building.
Bus concourse rebuild.
Bus ramp extension connecting Broadway to Lincoln.
Opening the view planes so that you can see the State Capitol from the 16th Street Mall.

“It’s going to open up the sight lines and be a lot more open and friendly, I think,” Desmond said.

“It also will improve the sight lines to Colfax, and get rid of that unused plaza space. It will enhance the level of lighting, and the sense of safety there too,” he said.

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