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Archive of posts filed under the Union Station category.

Denver Union Station Update #92

Work on the project has concentrated on one relatively small space for the past several weeks. Gone for now are the days of having activity scattered throughout the project area: light rail tracks, new stations, new streets, new sidewalks, etc. All of those have been completed. Now the work is confined to excavating the second portion of the bus terminal and building infrastructure inside the first portion.  Below is a photo from earlier this week that I took through a window inside Union Station.

It appears that the excavation work is nearly completed. Foundations are being built for the second set of elevators, stairs, escalators, and for the train tracks that will lay on the roof of the bus station. In the center of the background of the photo just below and slightly to the left of Glass House, notice the large sheet of vertical plastic with bright lights behind. You are looking at the lights inside of the first portion of the bus terminal. The vertical steel beams in the foreground support the shoring wall that is immediately behind Union Station.

It’s difficult to get a perspective from the photo. I’ll try to help. The scale of the hole is similar the first section: the same dept (about 28 feet), the same width, but a little shorter. I’m guessing that the first section is about 75% of the total length of the bus terminal.


Denver Union Station Walking Tour Schedule Update

Given the snowy forecast for this coming Saturday, December 3 and the upcoming busy holiday season, we are going to take a well-deserved break from our regular Denver Union Station walking tour schedule. We will not hold a tour in December. Look for an announcement of our next tour here at the DenverInfill Blog some time in mid-January. With over two years yet to go before the Union Station project is complete, there will be plenty of great walking tour opportunities coming up in 2012 and beyond.

Meanwhile, keep checking this blog for Rick’s regular Union Station updates and other goings-on in the Downtown development scene… and enjoy the holidays!


Denver Union Station Tour This Saturday, November 19, 2011

Hey, why not join me for our DenverInfill walking tour of the Union Station project this Saturday morning, Nov. 19 at 10 AM.

Here’s how it works: Head on down to the LoDo side of the historic station at 17th & Wynkoop at about 9:50 AM. Whoever shows up, that will be our tour group. We’ll start promptly at 10:00 AM and conclude around 11:00 AM at the new light rail station by the Millennium Bridge. The suggested donation for the tour is $10 per person and all proceeds go to the non-profitUnion Station Advocates, but you’re welcome to attend regardless of what you can donate.

This is your chance to get a detailed overview of the project’s major components: the public spaces, the transit/transportation facilities, the new private-sector development, and the reuse of the historic structure.

See you Saturday morning!


Denver Union Station Update #91

caisson [kā-sännoun. A watertight chamber used in construction work under water or as a foundation.

The pieces of equipment in the photo above are building caissons for the train bridges that will be part of the roof of the bus terminal.  (I had to look up the definition of a caisson.) There will be eight sets of tracks (Amtrak, Ski Train, commuter rail) requiring four bridges. As we know, trains can be pretty heavy so the bridges will require deep, sturdy foundations. Therefore, the caissons.