Belleview Station Denver

Belleview Station is a 46-acre, 5.1 million square foot transit-oriented development proposed at Interstate 25 and Belleview Avenue in Denver. The project includes 2.1 million square feet of office, 161,700 square feet of retail space, and 1,874 dwelling units. The development will create a downtown urban core encompassing a future RTD Light Rail Station for the surrounding Denver Technological Center. During the development review process, Fehr & Peers’ prepared a sophisticated set of trip generation assumptions, based on state-of-the-art techniques applicable to multi-modal, mixed-use developments.

This approach, which is referred to as the Mixed-Use/TOD Method, is the most thorough and exhaustive approach for mixed-use developments that include transit facilities. It builds upon the internal capture approach described for mixed-use projects. The internal capture rates, however, do not explicitly reflect the presence of transit facilities. The Mixed-Use/TOD Method further refines trip generation by accounting for the transit facilities by analyzing trip purpose and mode split. After determining the percent of daily and p.m. peak hour trips that are work-related and non-work-related, mode split factors were applied to differentiate between driving trips and trips by all other modes by trip purpose.

The initial step is to calculate trip generation based on the mixed-use procedures outlined in the Trip Generation Handbook. This approach provides an estimate of trip generation, and incorporates the effects of internalization as outlined in the Handbook. Since the Handbook does not explicitly account for the effect of the light rail station, additional steps are necessary to estimate trip generation. In order to determine mode split, vehicle trips need to be categorized as work and non-work. The best available data for this categorization can be obtained from Metropolitan Planning Organization (MPO) travel surveys. The work/non-work trips percentages provide a basis for estimating mode split. Information sources for mode split will vary, but some potential options include:

• Robert Cervero’s research in California;
• Data provided by the applicable Metropolitan Planning Organization; and
• United States Department of the Census Journey-to-Work information.

The application of both mixed-use reductions and multi-modal (mode split) reductions has measured impacts on vehicular trip generation. When compared to the application of ITE trip generation rates (including internalization), there are approximately 27 percent fewer peak hour trips at Belleview Station. This is a significant difference, and would potentially lead to different conclusions during the analysis of project impacts and the preparation of mitigation strategies.

It is now recognized that the provision of transit service is only one component of reduced dependency on automobile travel. True success is more consistently achieved when the land use pattern in and around transit destinations is supportive of transit use. The Mixed-Use/TOD Method documents that measurable reductions in p.m. peak hour trips can be achieved by combining transit service with land use densities and land use mixes that complement transit use.