Urban design elements that accommodate pedestrians characterize the redesign of Auraria Parkway, a transitional highway that links Interstate-25 to downtown Denver, Colorado. Tree lawns, parkways, and medians unify the route that traverses an area occupied by the Auraria Higher Education Center and a warehouse district that has been converted to commercial, retail, housing and entertainment re-use.

Travelling Auraria Parkway today is a pleasant experience for both pedestrians and motorists. But in the 1980's, the Auraria Parkway area was heavily congested - a prime candidate for one of Denver's first urban re-development projects to improve the downtown environment.

The transformation was achieved in part through compromises in traditional highway engineering design that preserved open space. The landscape architectural attributes were conceptualized in the Auraria Parkway Corridor Study by Sasaki Associates of Watertown, Massachusetts, in collaboration with BRW Inc., whose architectural engineering office in Denver also prepared the final design and construction administration services.

In the study phase, twenty-three preliminary alignment options were subjected to a series of preliminary land use, transportation, and urban design analyses to determine the best location for a roadway to connect the Central Business District to the touchdown point of the Walnut Viaduct replacement project and to identify associated opportunites for urban design redevelopment and pedestrian corridor enhancement. Following comparative evaluation of transportation, circulation, and urban design aspects for three best options, a single recommended alternative was designated.

The design team modified engineering choices in order to achieve a balance between the traffic needs of the project and the right-of-way uses for people. Complete with an urban gateway park and bicycle access, the resulting 3/4-mile, six-lane, median-divided roadway provides a definitive entry to downtown Denver from I-25. Distinguishable edges for the continuing education campus and the industrial loft community give each of these districts distinct "addresses" for living. In addition, accompanying pedestrian improvements enhance the recreation system along Cherry Creek and historic Speer Boulevard (see LASN, May 1994).

"The largest balancing act was redesigning the way the parkway meets the downtown grid," said Donald E. Hunt, Landscape Architect and Project Manager. "We were able to avoid a four-street connection, and instead connected to two downtown streets . . . , sav[ing] a lot of green space. Modifying the way traffic left the downtown streets at Lawrence Street and at Larimer Square . . . [required an] effort to maintain the [historically sensitive] pedestrian environment of Larimer Square, a historic district with specialty retail stores and offices that had been renewed in the 1960's. [We] diverted traffic two streets down and mitigated the traffic changes by redoing the streetscapes." Decorative paving, historic light fixtures, trees, railings and intersection improvements conform with design guidelines for the lower downtown historic district and create a transtition between the parkway and the city streets.

To provide for project longevity, particularly increases in traffic volume, an eight-mile route for future light rail transit was included in the project, and the corridor roadway was designed for six lanes with trees set back to accommodate widening to eight lanes if necessary. Having described the light rail transit alternative, Landscape Architect Hunt said he hopes the roadway can be maintained as is - reflecting the City's original desire for the landscape architectural aspects of the project to exceed Colorado Department of Transportation (DOT) standards.

Public reaction to the project has been good from concept to maturity, according to Hunt, in part owing to the high landscape architectural standards and to extensive public meetings and progress workshops.

A significant aspect of the Auraria Parkway Corridor Study was the comprehensive program of public involvement which was developed to maintain public awareness for the project and to assure that important community and neighborhood interests were integrated into each phase of the study. The comprehensive program not only maintained public awareness, but solicited and disseminated input from key organizations and agencies in the community throughout the project.

The state DOT funded com-pletion of the freeway viaduct, while the City and County of Denver funded the general improvements and selected the consultants. The Auraria Higher Education Center, a cooperative consortium that includes the University of Colorado at Denver, Denver Community College, and Metro State College, contributed financing to the campus interface edge. The success of the Auraria Parkway project ultimately led to many similar cooperatively funded projects in Denver. LASN