DenverInfill Blog

Going, going, gone.  Last week, the structures over the Union Station passenger tunnel were demolished. Here are a couple of photos of the process. By now, all of the debris has been cleaned up and hauled away.

To give you a sense to the extent of backfilling so far, here are two photos taken of the dirt pile on the 16th Street side of the bus terminal. I took the first one on September 7, 2010, and the second on April 15, 2011, both from the same spot on the Millennium Bridge. Also, the other huge pile of dirt on the 17th Street side is virtually gone.  It won’t be long that a casual observer would not know that there is a bus terminal down there.

I took the following photo late in the afternoon today. I intended to crop it to focus on the final beams being installed in the bus terminal roof.  However, once I took a close look at it, I decided to leave it alone since it turned out to be a good shot of the overall construction site.  In addition to the beams, be sure to notice the completed entrance/exit ramp, the skylights, and the progress on building Chestnut Place over the center of the roof.  Also, notice the degree of backfilling all around the site.

Please see our Denver Union Station page at JobSiteVistor.com for 27 more photos that I posted last week, plus the one above so far this week.

The project’s most noticeable work is happening right behind Union Station. I took the first photo below March 2, 2011, a mere five weeks ago. I took the second photo on Friday. Gone are all the tracks, passenger platforms, canopies, and bus access to the HOV lane.

Meantime, most of the other work is focused on finishing the entrance/exit ramp for the bus terminal, waterproofing the roof of the terminal, and completing utility work in preparation for rebuilding Chestnut Place. The following two photos, when taken together, give you a wide view of the project. Horizontally through the center of both photos is the beginning of the rebuilt Chestnut Place. On the right side of the first photo, you can see where Kiewit workers have started the dirt foundation for the street across the center of the bus terminal roof. The dark gray stripe on the roof is waterproofing material. In the bottom right quadrant of the second photo, you can see the mall bus turnaround, the inside of which is outlined with a black silt fence. (In spite of how they look in this view, these two photos are not distorted.  They are heavily cropped to focus on the center of activity.)

It appears the concrete work on the bus terminal is nearly finished for now. One section of the roof still needs to be completed as you can see in the lower left quadrant of the second photo above. The floor and the walls of the ramp seem to be done.

In the left center of the second photo above, you can see that walls have been built around the escalator and elevator entrances. The top of the walls, which are about four to five feet high, will be at grade level once backfilling and street construction are complete.

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