Going near Pepsi Center? Security may close area
Light-rail routes, traffic restrictions remain unknown
By Kevin Flynn, Rocky Mountain News (Contact)
Published June 5, 2008 at 7:45 p.m.
Updated June 5, 2008 at 10:53 p.m.
Matt McClain / The Rocky
A light-rail train makes its way Thursday to a station near the Pepsi Center, which is the site of the DNC Aug. 25-28.
Security requirements for the Democratic National Convention may result in closing or restricting light-rail service and traffic on streets surrounding the Pepsi Center.
But less than 12 weeks away from the opening gavel in Denver, security planners aren't ready to tell downtown commuters, businesses and residents what to expect.
"It's going to be closer to the time of the convention," said Malcolm Wiley, the U.S. Secret Service's spokesman for the event.
At this point before the last Democratic convention in Boston, transit and road closure plans already had been publicized for a month and a half.
There is an RTD light-rail corridor passing less than 80 feet from the Pepsi Center, where the convention will be held, a transit station 200 feet from the building's wall and two major boulevards located 370 feet and 620 feet away.
'Denver is not Boston'
For the Democratic National Convention in Boston's Fleet Center in 2004, restrictions were announced nearly four months prior to the event.
"The only thing I can say is Denver is not Boston," Wiley said. "With the Secret Service, every city we go to presents their own challenges. Just because something happened on a certain timeline in one city is no guarantee it will follow the same timeline in another city."
Wiley's agency is primarily concerned with security in the immediate area of Pepsi Center. The rest of downtown, he said, comes under the Denver Police Department's purview.
The impact of any closures or restrictions on streets and transit surrounding the Pepsi Center is sure to be less than the restrictions in Boston, based simply on numbers.
In Boston, North Station was closed to the public. But that's because it is located under the Fleet Center - now called TD Banknorth Garden. Commuter trains from the north side that normally used the station stopped north of the Charles River and riders were bused into downtown from there.
Amtrak canceled its Downeaster service from Portland, Maine, which uses the station, for the month of the convention, and the MTA's local Green Line trolleys that serve North Station were canceled.
The Orange Line subway was allowed to run through the station but not to stop there, and trains were met at stations north and south of there so police could search bags before trains proceeded under Fleet Center.
Small ridership impact
Interstate 93, the main freeway through Boston's core, which passes 40 feet from the arena, was closed to traffic from 4 p.m. to midnight, with evening rush- hour traffic diverted to other roads. That freeway carries about 175,000 vehicles a day in downtown Boston.
But in Denver, the location of the Pepsi Center west of the main downtown street and transit grid lessens the impact.
According to RTD ridership figures, an average of 4,332 riders take the C or E Line trains past the Pepsi Center each weekday. That's just a small portion of RTD's average daily ridership of 62,000 on light rail. Most downtown commuters arrive on the D, F or H lines that use California and Stout streets.
Transfers and traffic
If the Secret Service requires the C and E lines to shut down, those riders could transfer at Broadway, Alameda or Osage stations to other lines. If it permits the C and E trains to operate but not stop at the Pepsi Center station, there would be little impact.
If traffic is kept off Speer Boulevard or Auraria Parkway, similar to I-93 in Boston, it could be only for the 4 p.m.-to-midnight period when the main convention sessions are held.
Speer carries about 49,000 vehicles a day at Wewatta Street, next to the arena. Auraria carries 28,500, according to the latest Denver traffic counts.
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June 6, 2008
9:55 a.m.
Suggest removal
Scott writes:
The S.S. will need to close down the light rail and streets so that the "vendors" can get an unobstructed access to deliver the hookers and booze to the politicians and delegates.
Scott
June 7, 2008
2:14 a.m.
Suggest removal
dano writes:
Let this be a lesson to never have a convention, Democratic or Republican. What a waste of time and energy for a "cow town".
June 7, 2008
11:28 p.m.
Suggest removal
warrengfunk7 writes:
They don't need to worry about, the terrorist like Obama, they want him to be the president, not John McCain. They won't try to blow up the Pepsi center with him in it. I think they can keep full train service and stations in operation and simply have security check points at each station, that each boarding passenger has to clear to board a train.
June 10, 2008
4:59 p.m.
Suggest removal
Art writes:
Anyone who works in downtown should plan now to take that week off. It will be a nightmare of major proportions. And no one should plan to go downtown that week for shopping or clubbing. This will be a week that will cause Denver distress for years to come. Stay away.