Greetings Denver infill community! As I connect with Rick’s contacts at Kiewit, you can expect longer and more informational updates.  For now though, updates will be brief and generally based on observations.

Big News!! For the first time on the project, there is construction activity in front of and adjacent to the historic building.

Over the past 6 weeks, a new series of fences have gone up around the former parking lots that straddled the station. That’s right…I said former…because the parking lots that used to exist are now history. Also gone are the sidewalk and traffic lane of northbound 16^th Street between Wynkoop and Wewatta which were dug up to install a new sewer line underneath. Here are a couple of pictures that show how the west parking lot and 16^th Street looked about a week ago. Apologies in advance for the terrible shadows in the first pic—I was going to take a replacement, but then the snow storm hit!

No word on when 16^th Street will go back to two lanes, but for now, mall shuttles going each direction are sharing the remaining southbound lane.  Additionally, this new traffic pattern has resulted in the closure of the southbound Wynkoop mall shuttle stop.

So why is this big news? For starters, you have construction activity on a new section of Union Station…its big. But far more exciting news is that the removal of the parking lots and installation of sewer systems foreshadow construction activity on the two wing buildings and public spaces that will line the station!

Taking a look from a higher vantage point, you can see most of the facade is complete and the columns on the court houses are not just raw concrete anymore. One noticeable difference is the new glass on the dome and all the scaffolding is removed. On the tower, it’s amazing what glass can do to the overall look of the building.

On the left, this is the project from the steps leading up to the Capitol. Notice how much of a presence this project on this corner and from the view of The Capitol. On the right is the entrance to the court houses with real granite columns with ‘Liberty and justice for all’ inscribed in gold at the top.

As stated before, these buildings have a great street presence. On Broadway (left) you can see both the office tower and the court houses creating a decent size street wall. On 13th Avenue, the office tower creates a canyon with 1290 Broadway right across the street.

Finally, one of my favorite aspects of this project. The 14th Street view-plane. This completes the wall at the end of 14th Street and resembles a much denser Civic Center skyline.

If you are new to this website or new to Denver, you need to know that there is a new bus terminal behind Union Station. Really! It’s there. And here’s the story of it so far.

The two photos below are from Update #48 on January 7, 2011. As you can see in the first one, much work on phase one of the bus terminal had been accomplished in 2010: the giant hole was excavated; the four-foot thick floor was laid; the walls were built; and the roof beams were being installed. Notice that three cranes were at work.

In the second photo above, the canopy over the light rail platform was completed, and finishing touches were in progress on the mall shuttle canopy.

So that’s the way it was at the beginning of 2011. The day after returning from a long road trip in late February, I met with Hunter Sydnor at Kiewit’s office to get an update on seven weeks of progress. And there was plenty for us to talk about.

By the end of February, the bus terminal roof was nearly complete (first photo below), the vertical walls of the skylights had been built (second photo), and the foundations for the three air inlet/outlet towers were in place.

Still in February, finishing touches were being made on the light rail tracks, and the Amtrak station had  moved to its temporary quarters on February 3.

By mid-March, the bus terminal was water-tight so the dewatering system was dismantled and the filtration system was hauled away. Work on the light rail overhead catenary system was underway (see photo below) and backfilling behind the bus terminal walls was nearly finished.

In Update #58 on April 10, I showed the following contrasting photos of the scene immediately behind Union Station. The span of time between the two photos was a mere five weeks. The tracks were gone, and the Amtrak passenger platforms had been demolished. However, the mall shuttle platforms remained for a while longer.

Backfilling on the roof of the bus terminal began in early April. In the photo below, you can see early backfilling and the waterproofing material being applied to the roof.

On April 26, excavation of the second half of the bus terminal began. It wasn’t long before the mail and baggage tunnels were revealed for the first time in many decades. Here’s a photo of the mail tunnel near 16th Street.

On April 28, I got my first tour inside of the bus terminal and wrote about it in Update #61. I remember being struck by the immensity of the space.

Moving along, the month of May saw the construction of streets. The mall shuttle loop was being built and Chestnut Place was being rebuilt, crossing over the bus terminal roof.

If there is a sad part of this story, it’s the loss of the beloved, historic passenger tunnel. In several posts throughout 2011, I gushed about the historic significance of that tunnel and my personal attachment to it: my Dad’s passing through that tunnel upon his return from the war in the Pacific in 1946 en route home to Medina, New York, to see his four month old son (me) for the first time. Here’s a photo of the beginning of the tunnel’s demolition in May 2011.

I like the following photo. It’s a wide shot of the area behind the station at mid-year. Phase 2 excavation was well underway; the mall shuttle station was still in operation, all three of the tunnels were gone; Wewatta Street was still open.

It’s exciting when a project gets to the finishing-touches stage. Lots of highly visible stuff happens. In mid-July, the Chestnut Pavilion started to take shape, and the new light rail station passenger platforms were completed (first photo below). Also, streets were completed, and the three air intake/outlet towers were built. The second photo is a good reminder of the appearance of the towers since they have been wrapped in blue plastic for the past several months. They are due to be unwrapped soon.

The Central Platte Valley Light Rail Line was shut down on July 22 in preparation of connecting the tracks at the new light rail station to the main line. Also in late-July, 16th Street and the light rail tracks embedded in it were torn up.

The lights were turned on for the first time on August 2 at the newly completed light rail station. This is another of my favorite shots.

The month of August was huge. Everything to do with the new light rail station was coming together: tracks, lighting, sidewalks, signage, railings, even light rail tests rides. The place was ready for action.

Then it finally happened. The new light rail and mall shuttle stations opened on August 15, 2011. This photo is from 5:50 that morning. I think it was the arrival of the first train. A VIP train following a couple of hours later. Go to Update #82 to see several videos of the celebration.

The first photo below is the scene at 8:00AM on August 22. The second one is 2:00pm on August 25. Nuff said.

By mid-September,the Chestnut Pavilion canopy was finished, the tear-drop planters started to show up, and a new pile of dirt was growing.

After a delay of several weeks due to a water contamination problem that was difficult to remedy, phase two excavation resumed by late-October. At the same time, there was plenty of activity constructing the tear-drop planters near the new light rail station.

Phase two excavation was nearly complete in November. Work began and continued into December on foundations for the eight sets of tracks (commuter rail, Amtrak, and Ski Train) that will be place over the roof of the bus terminal immediately behind Union Station.

As most big construction projects near completion, they rise up to highly visible structures that can be admired from near or far.  Not so with the Union Station project; progress results in its disappearance. I can’t wait for that first bus ride from the shining, new terminal that is someplace underground.

At the end of almost every blog, I remind you to take a look at JobSiteVistor.com for a more thorough visual tour of the project. By now, I have posted hundreds of photos on that site. You may enjoy a complete tour as I have done while writing this year’s retrospective.

Thanks to Matthew Aschermann of JE Dunn as well as Rob Deevy and Gary Cahill of Dunakilly for accompanying us on this tour.

First, we were given an overview of the technology they were using on this project. The software they use in the office is called Bluebeam. Basically, it’s an advanced PDF reader that is geared towards construction services. Since it is all PDF based, they can print off an 11×17 sheet for the field, as well as take a tablet.

This is a very roomy building. On the lobby level there is an atrium that rises three stories with an open staircase (left). On the right are offices on the outer edge and a meeting area in the center.

The crime lab will come complete with a shooting range and a gun library. This will be used for scenario replication. If there’s a specific gun that needs to be fired or a part is needed to make a gun fire, these will be the two most helpful places.

This will come complete with a conference room, and multiple labs. These labs will consist of DNA replication, chemical labs, forensics, evidence handling, and a lab to replicate lighting, trajectory and photos.

Now to the exterior. The actual masonry, and aluminum cladding are starting to show. (The building will not be green and red) The jagged exterior also adds something completely different to the area and is very out of the ordinary. With all the historic buildings in the area, this building will look very cutting edge and futuristic.

I will leave you with this bonus shot taken from a balcony on the top floor of the building. A great view of our state capitol.

This project is one of the projects funded by the $550 million Better Denver Bond project and contributes to a great urban street wall down 14th Avenue. This project is perusing LEED-Silver certification as well which is a great contribution to building a greener Denver.

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.

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.

There is good news to report. The hole is drained and excavation work on the bus terminal has resumed. A variety of factors caused long delays in getting the pumping and filtering systems in place. The ground water is contaminated with substances in addition to those found in the first phase, the clean water standards have gotten more stringent, and very few labs in the country are equipped to perform the required testing. The delays are not expected to impact the Spring 2014 completion of the project. Here is a shot that I took on Tuesday before the snowstorm.

The walls/seats are being installed around the planters near the light rail station. Here’s another photo from Tuesday. It appears that the walls are being installed along the inside edges of the foundations to maximize clearance between the planters, as suggested in some DenverInfill comments.

Here are two photos of the project from this weekend. The photo on the left shows the Cherokee corner, and on the right the Delaware corner:

Along with the Denver Justice Center’s three buildings nearby, the Denver Crime Lab will continue the development of an urban street wall and better pedestrian environment on this stretch of W. 14th Avenue where mostly parking lots once dominated.

First, let’s look at the water situation. Digging phase two of the bus terminal is being held up by ground water. Pumping out the ground water is being held up for analysis of the contaminants in the water, finding an effective method for filtering out those contaminants, and getting approval for the process. In the meantime, I have a good view of a not-so-good reflecting pool.

Now for concrete story number one. The concrete borders for the tear-shaped planters are being poured. Those borders will double as seats for passers-by.

Concrete story number two is about the other half of 16th Street between Chestnut Place and Wewatta Street.  As you will recall, the street was torn up during the removal of the light rail tracks that served the light rail station of yesteryear.  The new street is in but not quite ready for use. Utility work is still underway at the intersection of Wewatta and 16th. Here’s how it looks from that intersection.

Please check out more current photos at JobSiteVistor.com.

Left: View to the north at the upper end of Downtown. Right: View to the southeast at part of the Capitol Hill district.

Left: View to the northeast at part of the Uptown district. Right: View to the northeast at the State Capitol.

Left: A zoomed-in view to the northwest down the new 14th Street. Right: View to the northwest at the City & County Building, with the Colorado Convention Center, Pepsi Center, and Elitch Gardens beyond.

Left: View to the southwest at part of the library/art museum facilities and Golden Triangle district. Right: View to the south at the ING/Security Life Building across 13th Avenue.

Neat reflection in that last photo, eh?

We’re not quite done. The Ralph Carr isn’t the only new building with a nice view. Here’s a bonus photo of a view from the outdoor terrace at the new History Colorado Center:

Sweet!