City explores ‘shared street’ concept for downtown Denver

DENVER (KDVR) — The city of Denver is studying a new kind of street design aimed at transforming busy downtown corridors into places that prioritize people — not just cars.

Denver’s Department of Transportation and Infrastructure is proposing what it calls a “shared street” along North Sherman Street, between 14th Avenue and 7th Avenue. The idea: to make the stretch feel less like a roadway and more like a plaza — where pedestrians, cyclists, and vehicles coexist, but people on foot take priority.

“We could radically transform the feel of the street so it almost feels like a plaza — cars would feel like guests in this space,” said Dana Hoffman with DOTI.

Hoffman said the city has been developing the concept for about two years as part of a larger effort to make Denver’s public spaces mo