TOD

Just as the streetcar lines shaped neighborhood development in the first part of the 20th century, automobiles shaped the city in the second. But while streetcars encouraged close-knit, walkable places, cars encouraged sprawling, drivable development.

If the people running these localities don't embrace new people, there's good reason to believe that low suburban ridership will stay low, because the people running these localities don't seem to want new people moving in.

Housing is in short supply in Denver, and that applies to the areas near transit stations, where people are willing to pay a premium. Will the new transit-oriented development at 48th and Race be affordable to Denverites on the lower half of the income spectrum?

The two RTD stations are along the E, F, and H lines and combine for more than 9,000 trips per day. But ridership could be much higher if the stations were accessible.

Only 8 percent of Denverites live within a half-mile of a rail station -- about a 10-minute walk -- "despite growth in rail transit in Denver over the last 15 years."

It makes a lot of sense to build walkable development around transit stations. Otherwise, few people will be able to live near transit, and you’ll never have a transit system that enables people to get to work or do their shopping without a car. But as the convenience of good transit access becomes more highly valued, how do you … Continued

On Wednesday the Denver Planning Board approved a plan to transform the area around Broadway and I-25 Station so people can get to the station safely and conveniently without driving. Under the plan, a new mixed-use neighborhood would rise around the station. Instead of a park-and-ride surrounded by car-first streets, Broadway and I-25 Station would be accessible via new pedestrian and … Continued

If you build good transit, it will serve a lot more people if you also build walkable places around the stations. Without that development, your transit system won’t ever reach its potential. When it comes to making effective use of the land by its stations, RTD has some catching up to do, according to initial results from an … Continued

Denver’s ABC affiliate, 7News, has a very cleverly titled column called “Driving You Crazy” (it’s mostly about what makes drivers crazy — get it?). Sometimes traffic reporter Jayson Luber wanders into transit territory — like when he empathized with a reader who can’t stand “gabby females” on the No. 15 bus. But mostly Luber hands a megaphone to motorists enraged over … Continued