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Union Station Update #34

Posted by  on September 15, 2010

The first concrete was poured for the bus terminal walls a week ago today.  Since then, four sections have been poured for a total of about 200 linear feet.  A fifth section appears to be ready for concrete.  Here’s a photo taken at about 3:30pm today.

This afternoon, the first support post for the light rail passenger platform canopy was installed.  Below is a photo.  Before I finished writing this blog posting, a second one was erected.  It appears to be a quick process.  I think it’s fair to say that this is the first non-concrete construction on the site.  I will show you progress in a few days.

There is also news regarding tracks for the light rail, commuter rail, and Amtrak.  As you would expect, rails cannot be transported in long lengths so the standard length rails will be welded together on the project site in preparation for laying tracks.  It is most efficient to weld several rails together using a stationary machine, and then weld the fewer, longer rails once they have been placed on the railroad ties.  I’ll get some photos of that process once it gets started.

Here’s a photo-viewing tip. In case you have not already noticed, you can zoom in on the photos at Jobsite Visitor. Simply click on the zoom button and then the + button. Also, once you have zoomed using the + button, you can move the photo around by hovering your cursor over the photo, holding down the left click mouse button, and moving your mouse. The photos are high resolution (2 meg or more) so you you get good clarity even if you zoom several times.

Speaking of Jobsite Visitor, I’ve uploaded 11 more photos this week.  See them here.

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Filed under Government & Civic, Infill, Transit, Union Station.
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Bidirectional Bike Lanes

Posted by  on September 8, 2010

I just returned from a long holiday weekend in Montreal. It was my first time to that city and it was awesome. Montreal is nicely urban and dense with a great metro system, but it also felt very approachable and non-intimidating. Anyway, as is always the case, I come back from a trip like this with a ton of photos and examples to share of what other cities are doing that we could do here in Denver to improve our urban environment.

For our first example, let’s talk about bidirectional on-street bike lanes. In Denver, our major off-street bike trails, like along Cherry Creek or the Platte River, are bidirectional, but do we have anything in Denver like these examples below from Montreal?

Without curbs:

2010-09-08_montreal1 2010-09-08_montreal2

With curbs:

2010-09-08_montreal3 2010-09-08_montreal4

The street in Montreal without curbs was a local residential street with very little traffic. The street with curbs was a bit more of a major neighborhood street, something similar to, say, E. 11th Avenue in Capitol Hill.

I saw many examples of this in Montreal; in fact, I think I saw more bidirectional on-street bike lanes than unidirectional lanes. They appear to treat bicycles as a true transportation mode worthy of its own system within the public right-of-way rather than as something you accommodate if there’s enough room on the street to paint a few lines without inconveniencing the motor vehicle system too much.

The Downtown Denver Partnership has recently asked the city to study the possibility of a bidirectional bike lane system on 15th Street in Downtown to connect Civic Center with LoDo. Where else do you think Denver should or could implement bidirectional bike lanes? What routes would bike commuters suggest? Where do you think the right-of-way width/configuration would allow for bidirectional lanes? Discuss.

By the way, the city is currently updating its bicycle and pedestrian master plans through an effort called Denver Moves. If you are interested in this issue and want to provide feedback to the city on this important topic, please get involved in Denver Moves. For more info, visit: http://denvermoves.org/

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Filed under Bicycles, Plans & Policies, Streets.
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Union Station Update #33

Posted by  on September 7, 2010

In spite of appearances in the photo below, it is not a group of local dignitaries behind bars making little rocks out of big rocks.  It also is not local authorities digging the next phase of the bus terminal by hand.  It is a gathering of those responsible for converting a dream into the reality of the Denver Union Station Redevelopment Project.  Credit was duly given to dozens of individuals who worked tirelessly and overcame every conceivable obstacle to design and fund this massive project.  It is a photo of the “DUS Construction Celebration” event held at 1:30 today on the light rail platform behind the historic station.  I’ll take a wild guess that about 100 people attended the event.

In other news, work continues on preparing concrete forms for the bus terminal walls.  Kiewit expects to start pouring those walls later this week.  The photo below shows workers in the shadows on the far left suspended from the top of the form and tying rebar.  You can see other workers tying rebar at the top of the pillar in the foreground.   The sheets of pre-assembled rebar laying flat on the concrete floor will be lifted into place along the walls.  The walls will be 19 feet high and two feet thick.  Each form is 50 feet long.  The pillars are 12 feet high and will support the ceiling girders.

I’ve added several more photos to our Denver Union Station page at JobSiteVistor.com.

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Filed under Government & Civic, Infill, Transit, Uncategorized, Union Station.
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Union Station Update #32

Posted by  on September 4, 2010

There has been much more of the same activity over the past week. Concrete has now been poured for nine of the sections of the bus terminal floor. It appears that there are only six sections remaining. Two concrete forms for the bus terminal walls have been placed on each side of the floor (top of the photo). Two rows of 36 pillars rise from the center of the floor. So far, the pillars are made only of rebar, but they start to define the separation of the passenger area from the bus-travel area of the terminal. A row of 22 foundations have been built for the canopy at the light rail passenger platform (foreground).

Good news.  According to the August edition of the Union Station Advocates Newsletter, the completion date for the project has been moved up a month to April 2014 from May 2014.

I copied the following from a recent email from DUSPA: “The Denver Union Station Project Authority, Regional Transportation District and City and County of Denver will host a Denver Union Station Construction Celebration on Tuesday, September 7, 2010, at 1:30 P.M.”  The event will be held at the light rail platform behind Union Station.

Please see our Denver Union Station page at JobSiteVistor.com for more photos.

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Filed under Government & Civic, Infill, Transit, Union Station.
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