While cruising around on my bicycle this weekend, in this beautiful autumn weather, I noticed something different in the Denver Union Station field. My favorite element of the project, the train shed canopy, is beginning to go vertical!
The trusses are beginning to go up and the color alone gives them a very powerful statement. It’s very similar to Denver International Airport’s white. This keeps a great consistency between Denver Union Station and DIA, which just so happen to be the two major transit centers in Denver.
This picture may look a little cluttered with the Cadence construction in the foreground, but I took this on purpose. These are the last few weeks you can see the entire Denver Union Station redevelopment from the Millennium bridge before the view gets obstructed, which in this case is a great obstruction!
And now for a clear view. This was taken off of Kewit’s Earthcam website. This is a great source to follow the project (as well as Rick’s Glass House patio).
I am very excited to see this stepping stone in the whole redevelopment. The next few months will definitely be very exciting watching the canopy get built.
They’ve also have done a great amount of work on the plaza areas behind the station. In one big area they have the trees,planters,benches,paving bricks,etc in. It should look really incredible when completed.
How many tracks are going in to the redeveloped Union Stations? I was thinking 8 but from these pictures it does not look like there will be enough platforms to serve that many tracks.
There will be 8 tracks with 4 platforms. Two on the edges and two in between.
I was curious about this myself and after lots of searching found this rendering that shows the configuration.
http://www.denverunionstation.org/index.php?option=com_docman&task=doc_download&gid=303&Itemid=
Take a look at page 7 in that pdf, only five of the eight tracks actually extend under the canopy of the train hall.
It’s too bad Denver is blowing it so badly on this project. A “train shed” should have a ROOF to cover people who are getting on and off the trains, not a silly bit of fluff that sort of says “there might be something of interest here.”
Eric, thanks for the comment. However, the canopy isn’t fluff. It’s quite substantial and, considering a roof isn’t feasible, it’s a major architectural statement for an open-air station.
I understand a full roof canopy was ruled out as sight lines to the backside of Union Station needed to be maintained. And with our few inclement days it makes sense to allow the sun to warm people and dry the ground, as shade will be supplied by the partial canopy and nearby buildings. Riders can wait down below in the bus terminal if they need to be dry/warm or stay cool in the summer.