Estimated read time: 3-4 minutes
- Ogden plans to revamp Wall Avenue by Union Station and Historic 25th Street to enhance downtown activity.
- The project aims to slow traffic on Wall Avenue and make it more pedestrian friendly, better uniting Union Station to the west and 25th Street to the east.
- Officials hope for preliminary plans by September and implementation of changes before the 2034 Winter Olympics.
OGDEN — Wall Avenue, the busy thoroughfare in front of Union Station, is to get an overhaul to make it more pedestrian friendly in tandem with plans to redevelop the train station and the land around it.
It's another prong of Ogden leaders' efforts to remake the downtown area, centered on Historic 25th Street, to bolster its drawing power and encourage more activity in the zone. Union Station sits on the west side of Wall Avenue where the key north-south thoroughfare meets Historic 25th Street, a dining and retail hub that runs east-west.
"The changes that are planned as part of the Union Station neighborhood plan will bring more people to the area and increase foot traffic throughout the entire downtown. Our hope is that people traveling on Wall Avenue will travel a little slower through downtown," Brandon Rypien, a senior planner in Ogden, said in a message to KSL.com. "We want pedestrians, cyclists and (others) to feel comfortable using Wall Avenue as a safe space to travel and access other modes of transit."
Over the long haul, officials are even mulling the idea of tunneling Wall Avenue underground on either side of 25th Street to create a large open plaza up above in front of Union Station that connects directly to 25th. For now, though, plans call for a series of measures to slow traffic on Wall Avenue between 22nd and 27th streets to make it safer for pedestrians, cyclists and others to traverse and cross. The overarching aim is to better unite Historic 25th Street off the east side of Wall Avenue and Union Station across the street on the west side of Wall Avenue.
"Our hope is that Wall Avenue can not only provide a way to get downtown, but in the downtown area Wall Avenue can be a street that is compatible with the activities that happen around it. We believe that it can be designed to serve all modes of transportation and no longer be a barrier that separates the Union Station campus from the rest of the downtown," Rypien said.
Plans to upgrade Union Station and the land around it in partnership with the Utah Transit Authority, owner of some of the land around the station, have been a long-standing focus of debate. The area covers 30 acres on the west side of Wall Avenue between 22nd and 27th streets. Plans call for major renovations to the historic train station, a new facility to house the museums inside it and new housing, office and retail space to the north and south of Union Station.
Plans to overhaul Wall Avenue are a more recent focus of public deliberation. The varied options under consideration call for median islands on the roadway in the vicinity of 25th Street, more trees and vegetation, lane narrowing, a new bike path, curb extensions, a reduced speed limit and more to slow traffic, now subject to a 40 mph limit.
"We anticipate that land uses on both sides of Wall Avenue will change after Wall Avenue is designed to be a street that is comfortable for all modes of transportation," Rypien said. Looking to the future "the downtown section of Wall Avenue will look a lot different than it does today.
City officials held an open house last month to get feedback from the public on the plans and another is in the works for August. Rypien hopes a draft plan comes together by September though it may take years for the plans to materialize. "We would like the changes to Wall Avenue to be completed before the 2034 Winter Olympics," he said.
