16th Street Mall
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The 16th Street Mall is a pedestrian and transit mall in Denver, Colorado. The mall, 1.25 miles (2 kilometers) long, runs along 16th Street in downtown Denver, from Wewatta Street (at Union Station) to the intersection of 16th Avenue and Broadway. It is the #1 tourist attraction in the Denver-Aurora metropolitan area. [1]
Contents |
[edit] History
The 16th Street Mall opened in 1982, originally from Market Street to Broadway, and was originally designed by I.M. Pei, the notable architect of the Louvre Pyramid. The Mall was extended from Market Street to Wynkoop Street in 2001 and to Union Station in 2002 to coincide with the completion of the Central Platte Valley (CPV) light rail spur. Before 1982, 16th Street was still a shopping and business destination that was home to four major department stores and many office buildings.
Currently, the 16th Street Mall serves as a nexus for the major businesses downtown as well as the various tourist attractions nearby.
[edit] Street Performing
Traditionally, street performing has been very popular on the mall, with many local folk, country, and vocal musicians gaining recognition in pop culture. Other types of performers, such as dancers, actors, impresionists, and comedians have also used the popular location as a prime venue for discovery.
[edit] The MallRide
A free shuttle bus service, operated by the Regional Transportation District (RTD), is known as MallRide.
From 1982 to 1999, the MallRide fleet used front-wheel-drive and right-hand-drive buses that were custom-designed and purpose-built. The right-hand-drive gives the operators better view of passengers entering and exiting the buses from the right-hand side and to watch out for the pedestrians. These buses can travel up to 25mph on the street and must deal with the 'wandering' pedestrians on the sidewalks who get too close to the buses.
When the original fleet was beginning to age, Neoplan constructed a single left-hand-drive prototype bus with video cameras as a potential replacement. All of the MallRide operators refused to accept the left-hand-drive bus, citing more convenience and safety with right-hand-drive configuration.
Consequently, RTD was back to the drawing board and started the bid process anew. None of the manufacturers accepted the bid to build the hybrid buses to RTD's exact specification. As the result, RTD became the first public transportation authority to form an engineering and manufacturing company, TransTeq, to build the second generation of MallRide fleet. The second generation fleet uses a Ford 1.6-litre motor running continuously on compressed natural gas to provide the electricity to two 440-horsepower motors as well as recharging the batteries. The operators continue to drive on the right-hand side as they did with the first generation.
MallRide stops at every intersection between Union Station and the 16th Avenue/Broadway intersection, with three stations—Union Station (at Union Station), Market Street (at 16th Street and Market Street), and Civic Center (at 16th Street and Broadway)—providing key connections to other RTD buses.
In addition, MallRide provides connections to light rail, connecting to the C Line at Union Station and to the D Line at Stout and California Streets, at 16th & Stout and 16th & California stations. MallRide service is provided very frequently daily, especially during rush hours.
[edit] External links
This Denver-related article is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it.
