DenverInfill Blog

(See July 22 update below)

Cheyenne Frontier Days must be upon us. Steam engine 844 and the rest of Union Pacific’s historic train is pulling into Union Station as I write this.

In past years, the train has backed into the tracks behind the station and broken itself into two pieces such that the front half parks on one set of tracks and the back half on another set.  This year, there is only one set of tracks.  As you know from previous DenverInfill blogs, the other tracks have been removed as part of the Union Station redevelopment project.

Amtrak’s California Zephyr is due to arrive in a few hours from Chicago.  Hmmm.  Where it will park?

Next year, it will be even more challenging.  All the tracks behind the station will be gone and Amtrak will be using its temporary terminal on the other side of 20th Street.  Hmmm.  Where will 844 park?

I am dashing off on my bike to take a few photos.  I will add them to this post when I return.

July 22, 1:55pm update:

Finally, here is a photo (another appears on Jobsite Visitor and more will follow).  A technical glitch prevented me from posting it earlier.

Shortly after taking that photo yesterday afternoon, the train pulled away and parked about a half mile to the northeast, out of sight of Union Station.  It returns to Union Station on Friday (today) and Sunday for public display from 10am to 8pm each day.  Union Pacific and Amtrak appear to be well coordinated on the use of the limited track space behind the station.

Current activity is all about building foundations for the bus terminal and the light rail station.

First, let’s look at the bus terminal.  The six-inch-thick concrete mud slab is expanding through the area occupied by the foundations for the two escalators and the elevator.  The water-proof membrane is being installed over the portion of the mud slab that was poured last week.  Likewise, rebar is being installed over the membrane.

I’ll try to decipher the photo below that I took from the eighth floor of Glass House.  To the right is the bare concrete mud slab.  The dark area against the shoring wall is concrete covered by the membrane, which is covered by a very dense amount of rebar.  Between the rebar area and the bare concrete is the area covered only with the membrane.  It’s identifiable by the light-colored grid.  Work on the concrete, membrane, and rebar is continuing.

Considering the size of the rebar (it takes three men to carry one piece of it) and the fact that the floor will be four feet thick, it appears that the foundation will be a pretty solid.

Now for the light rail station.  This part of the project is far less dramatic in scope than the bus terminal, but vital nonetheless.  The following photo is from the Millennium Bridge and shows that the station  foundations are now approaching the Union Gateway Bridge (in the background).  The ground surface will be raised to the tops of the concrete foundations/walls.  Then the tracks can be laid, and the passenger platform can be built.

I’ve uploaded 13 new photos to our Denver Union Station page at JobSiteVistor.com so far this week.  I expect more will follow as progress becomes visible.