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
Oskar Blues Grill & Brew
$$Two floors of Oskar Blues taps with a basement blues club underneath.
LoDo · 1624 Market Street
Comedy Works Downtown
$$The basement club where national headliners still test material
LoDo · 1226 15th St
The Delectable Egg
$$A Denver breakfast institution since 1982, omelets and Benedicts until 2pm.
LoDo · 1642 Market Street
STK Denver
$$$$A DJ-driven chain steakhouse on Market where dinner is a night out.
LoDo · 1550 Market Street
LandmarkLarimer Square
Denver's oldest block, strung with lights, still the city's dinner street
LoDo · 1400 block of Larimer St (14th–15th)
Ocean Prime
$$$$Polished corporate steak-and-seafood on the corner of 15th and Larimer.
LoDo · 1465 Larimer Street