pedestrian street with free shuttle (formerly 16th Street Mall) · since 1982
16th Street
The mile-long pedestrian spine from Union Station to the Capitol, rebuilt and renamed
Denver, Colorado (2025) - 176 — Another Believer, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
The 16th Street Mall opened in 1982 on an I.M. Pei design of granite pavers in a rattlesnake pattern, with free shuttle buses running its length. After three years of reconstruction, the city rebranded it as just '16th Street' on May 20, 2025 and fully reopened it in October 2025 with new pavers, trees and wider sidewalks; Denverite spent 2025 chronicling how it had become 'a ghost town' during construction. From LoDo it starts at Union Station's front doors and runs 1.25 miles to Broadway and Civic Center. Ride the free shuttle with luggage; walk it to see whether the revival is taking, block by block.
Why go. It is the free, flat, car-free way from Union Station to the rest of downtown.
Hop the free shuttle at Wynkoop with luggage; on foot, the LoDo blocks between Wynkoop and Larimer are the ones with life, and the middle stretch is still filling in.
A short walk from 16th Street
Clock Tower Events
$Self-guided climb up Denver's first skyscraper, finished in 1911, for the view.
Downtown, a few blocks over · 1601 Arapahoe Street
The Clocktower Cabaret
$$Burlesque, drag and comedy in the basement under the D&F clock tower.
Downtown, a few blocks over · 1601 Arapahoe Street
Ichigo Matcha
$Matcha soft serve and fish-shaped taiyaki from a 16th Street kiosk
LoDo · 16th Street at Larimer Street
Queen City Collective Coffee
$Roomy Larimer counter built for laptops and a long second cup
LoDo · 1675 Larimer Street
STACK Subs
$Family-run toasted sub counter built for the downtown lunch hour
LoDo · 1331 17th Street
Chez Maggy
$$$Ludo Lefebvre's French brasserie on the ground floor of the Thompson
LoDo · 1616 Market Street