Denver just approved the bridge that will connect Ball Arena to LoDo

For decades, the walk from Ball Arena to downtown Denver has involved one of the city’s least pleasant decisions: jaywalking across Speer Boulevard like a human game of Frogger, or walking several blocks out of your way to cross safely while still buzzing from a Nuggets win. That era is ending.

Denver City Council has approved the intergovernmental agreement that clears the way for Kroenke Sports and Entertainment to build “Wynkoop Crossing,” a pedestrian and bicycle bridge spanning Speer Boulevard to connect Ball Arena directly to Lower Downtown. The bridge — designed by Shears Adkins Rockmore Architects — will feature two 16-foot-wide shared-use paths for pedestrians, cyclists, wheelchair users and scooter riders, with a looping ramp on the LoDo side that provides universal access without elevators. It will land on the downtown side near Manny’s Bridge and the Downtown Children’s Playground, crossing Speer and touching down at Chopper Circle — the front door of Ball Arena.

The bridge is just the first phase of what Kroenke envisions as a massive transformation of Ball Arena’s surroundings. The current landscape — a sea of bare concrete parking lots that has been the Nuggets’ and Avalanche’s aesthetic calling card for years — would eventually become a new extension of downtown, complete with housing, hotels and mixed-use development.

And Wynkoop Crossing isn’t the only thing about to reshape the Denver skyline. A proposed 673-foot spiral observation tower at 1546 California Street and 1555 Welton Street is in the final stages of design, with construction expected to begin this fall and continue through late 2027. If built, the tower would become one of the tallest structures in Denver — the fourth-tallest, according to Developing Denver — and would give the city its first major observation attraction, offering panoramic views of the Front Range and the downtown skyline from nearly 70 stories up.