For several years, 16th Street Mall has been covered with a maze of fencing, construction workers and the sounds of dump trucks backing up and temporarily halting traffic.

As downtown Denver struggled recovering from the pandemic, the massive construction taking over its main street compounded its problems and pushed many businesses to leave — driving up the retail vacancy rate to nearly match the city center’s office vacancy rate.

But now the stretch has a new look and a new name — 16th Street — and city leaders hope it’ll also infuse a renewed energy in downtown.

The street is one of the city’s largest economic contributors, from the retail and restaurant sales tax it generates to hotel lodging, and the construction has hurt the city’s revenues, said Adeeb Khan, the city’s top economic official, at a news conference last week.

“And so now that it is open, we hopefully will see more traffic from a foot traffic standpoint, more people coming and visiting downtown and more people experiencing many of our businesses.”

The project was initially scheduled to be completed by late 2024, but delays pushed back its full completion until fall of this year.

That’s not keeping the city from already celebrating that it’s nearly finished.

This weekend, Denver will be hosting a Summer Kickoff on 16th Street – which will no longer include “mall” in its branding – to encourage people to return to the city center and see what years of work and the approximately $175 million project has produced.

The festivities from May 31 to June 1 will include an Olympic-style speed climbing competition, a U.S. women’s soccer watch party at Skyline Beer Garden and an outdoor bazaar of local vendors.

The kickoff is also timed in conjunction with the Outside Festival hosted at Civic Center Park, which is expected to attract thousands of people to downtown for the state’s celebration of the $1 trillion outdoor recreation industry.

What’s new on 16th Street

The project that began in 2022 was initiated to address 16th Street Mall’s deteriorating infrastructure, which perpetuated drainage issues and caused increased maintenance for its shuttles.

Returning visitors to the refreshed mall will notice that the street no longer has a median on some blocks. Shuttles will be moved to the center and there’s several more feet for the pedestrian walkway.

There’s also been more than 200 trees planted that provide a larger canopy and escape from the intense Colorado sun.

Some of the mall’s old trees have been recycled into benches placed outside downtown’s new Populus hotel. 

The street is lined with new art installations and children’s play areas being labeled as “moments of joy” ranging from a cowboy trout and a climbable beehive to three glittering Aspen tree sculptures on Glenarm Plaza.

There’s about 20 new outside patios for 16th Street businesses that will have been installed for the kickoff weekend, according to the Downtown Denver Partnership. There are expected to be a total of 24 patios confirmed to be built by the end of summer.

And there’s also the new name.

Last week, Mayor Mike Johnston announced the city is dropping the word “mall” from the transitway.

He said the decision was to emphasize the destination as a streetwide experience with drinks, dining, events and shopping – and not anything like a suburban mall from the 1980s when the street first opened.

“We dropped the mall because it is so much more than just one retail location or one block. It is an entire mall of experience,” he said at a May 20 news conference.

He quickly corrected himself saying it was actually “a mile of experience.”

Denver’s 16th Street Mall officially now just 16th Street

There are colorful signs along the thoroughfare with the new branding for “16th Street” and its fresh tagline “The Denver Way.”

There’s also smaller icons designed by local artist Brayan Montes, who also goes by YAMZ, nestled on signs and structures to symbolize the sites and experiences along the street such as the cowboy fish, ballgame tickets, the clock tower and a rattlesnake.

What are the new drinking rules?

The city has also worked to expand the places where it’s legal to drink outside on 16th Street, but officials are emphasizing that drinking alcohol and walking along the street is still illegal.

There will be three designated areas for drinking outside in addition to restaurant patios.

There’s the Skyline Beer Garden and Outer Space, which are operated by the Downtown Denver Partnership.

And Glenarm Plaza will also soon allow outside drinking.

Denver officials are working to create a city-consumption area at Glenarm Plaza in front of Denver Pavilions, where people can buy drinks at designated restaurants and take them to-go to drink on the designated block.

No, 16th Street isn’t going full Bourbon Street on alcohol. Here’s what’s allowed

As of Friday afternoon, a spokesperson for Denver’s excise and licenses department said the consumption zone will be operating at “some capacity” this weekend.

Where is the mall shuttle driving?

The 16th Street Shuttle has begun riding on the newly-paved blocks, but not on all.

The RTD Free MallRide is operating on 16th Street between Union Station and Curtis Street. It’s still rerouted from Curtis Street to Civic Center Station, traversing along 15th and 17th streets.

When will 16th Street really be done?

When the first finished blocks debuted last year, a 16th Street hotel manager said he’ll miss the workers from PCL Construction but also joked he never wants to see them again.

It’s no secret the construction was a strain on the city and some parts will still be waiting for an end to the burdensome work.

“There was a lot of challenges and it could have turned really tough on both sides,” said Ryan Schmidt, vice president and district manager of Denver buildings for PCL Construction, in an interview. “It’s a very high profile project that wasn’t moving as fast as anybody wanted it to.”

How safe is Denver's 16th Street Mall?

So far, nine out of 13 street blocks have been completed.

It means a majority of 16th Street is now walkable without barriers in the way — for the most part.

The finished construction was split into two parts because of the century-old infrastructure from Denver’s early days that construction workers found, such as a brick sewer line, that has caused the months-long delay.

It means one block will be partially finished halfway through the promenade.

“The mall is split into two sections in terms of the services underneath the street,” Schmidt said.

When the historic infrastructure was found, Schmidt said they made a decision to jump ahead on the work and “start where that breakpoint is and then start doing the mall on two fronts.”

Between Stout and California, the breakpoint he mentioned, workers are in the second phase of construction, which entails installing the street’s famous diamondback rattlesnake-inspired pavers. On its surrounding sides, the project has been completed between Market and Stout Street and California Street to Tremont Place, according to the city’s status tracker.

The area known as “Block 7,” where the pavers are being placed, will still be accessible to pedestrians, said Amy Ford, executive director of Denver’s Department of Transportation & Infrastructure.

Most of the work that still needs to be done on 16th Street is between Republic Plaza and Civic Center Station, she added.

Most of the final blocks are still in the first and longest phase of the construction, which include building the transitway where the shuttles will drive and reconstructing the intersections.

The city expects to finish those last blocks by late fall, Ford said.