RTD and the city want to transform the dilapidated, dangerous Civic Center Station into a modern transit hub, and they’re kicking off the public process tomorrow.

Eighteen bus routes and 15,000 people — more than at any other station — pass through Civic Center Station, but it’s surrounded by three terribly wide streets: Colfax, Broadway, and Lincoln. Cars and buses speeding down these roads make it a terrible place to catch a bus or walk through. Plus the station’s 30-year-old layout has curb cuts with poor visibility where approaching buses can catch pedestrians off guard.

The intersection of Colfax and Broadway is one of the city’s most dangerous, averaging 2.5 crashes a month, according to RTD’s Civic Center Transit District Plan. Drivers are allowed to take lefts as pedestrians cross the street, and the lack of bike infrastructure forces riders onto the sidewalks.

In addition to the more open station plan that should improve visibility for drivers and pedestrians, RTD and its partners hope to address these problems with better crosswalks, pedestrian-only walk phases, bike lanes, and bus-only lanes. These ideas will be presented tomorrow at the station.

Rather than assuming people will show up to an inconvenient public meeting, project reps will go straight to the source tomorrow to collect public opinions. They’ll be at the station at 1560 Broadway from 11 a.m. until 6:30 p.m., approaching people to get their input and answering questions about the project. Here’s the flyer.

Planners want Civic Center Station to not only move people more efficiently and safely, but also to give the area an identity, like Union Station did for the other end of the 16th Street Mall. The redesign frees up a 20,000-foot parcel along Colfax between Broadway and Lincoln, but how it will be used — perhaps for a park, perhaps for mixed-use development — depends on public feedback and funding.