Study Says TODs Could See 400% Jump in Population

DENVER-Populations in Transit Oriented Developments, or TODs, between could rise by more than 400% by 2025, according to a new report. The report, “Hidden In Plain Sight, Hidden in Plain Sight: Capturing the Demand for Housing Near Transit,” is a national study by Las Vegas-based Reconnecting America’s Transportation Network, working with Oakland-based Transit Oriented-Development.

Although they have been around for decades, TODs are an emerging partof New Urbanism planning as multi-modal transportation hubs are built. The idea is to create high-density, pedestrian “urban villages,” with housing, retail, offices, recreation centers, and other services around light rail stations, and other transportation hubs. TODs are considered especially important in Denver, because on Nov. 2, voters in the seven-county area will decide the fate of a tax increase for a $4.7-billiontransportation initiative called FasTracks.

Reconnecting America used Denver, Chicago, Washington, D.C., Los Angeles, Cleveland, Charlotte and Memphis as case studies. “Denver could eventually quintuple the number of households living in transit zones,” according to the report. “This goal, or something slightly less ambitious, seems attainable given Denver’s rapid projected household growth, the expansion of its transit systems, the underutilized capacity around transit station and the current interest in building TOD. In fact, a goal of accommodating roughly 70,737 additional households, or 19% of the region’s projected growth, in transit zones seems modest in light of these findings.”