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18th Street Ped Bridge Under Construction

Posted by  on April 28, 2009

Good news in the Central Platte Valley. It looks like the long-awaited 18th Street Pedestrian Bridge is under construction.

For the past several weeks, utility work has been taking place within the 18th Street right-of-way in advance of work on the bridge itself. While that effort appears to be continuing, I noticed today what looks like a concrete form or something that is going vertical, which I assume is for the bridge itself. Here’s a pic:

There’s also a new sign on the Riverfront Park side of the tracks about the new bridge too.

What’s the bridge going to look like? Here’s one image from my blog on this topic from May 2007. I’m not sure if this is still the latest design, but it’s probably pretty close:

I’ll update this post if I get newer images of the bridge.

Construction on the first component of the big Union Station project–relocation of the light rail station to along the CML at the end of 17th Street–is still supposed to begin soon, as in May or June.

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Filed under Bicycles, Central Platte Valley, Pedestrians, Union Station.
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Bicycle Commuter Services

Posted by  on February 7, 2009

The other day I talked about how Downtown Denver is getting a Bike-sharing program, starting this summer. Here’s some more good news on the Downtown bicycle front that I’m passing along from Bicycle Colorado:

Adult Commuter Education Pilot Program Seeks Downtown Participants
To meet the growing need for adult bicycle education and interest in bicycle commuting, Bicycle Colorado – a statewide bike advocacy organization located in Downtown Denver – has developed a curriculum and pilot program for adult Bicycle Commuter Services (BCS). BCS is designed to partner with employers who are interested in encouraging healthier and happier employees through bicycling. Currently, Bicycle Colorado is seeking two to three employers interested in participating in the pilot program in spring 2009.

The Opportunity
For interested organizations/businesses, this is a great opportunity to sign up and receive Bicycle Colorado’s in-depth bike commuter consultation, education and coaching for a greatly reduced rate. In addition, the organizations or businesses that are chosen to serve as the pilots will be promoted and endorsed as the example organizations that provide best practices for the program into the future.

Program Components
Below are some examples of program components that Bicycle Colorado offers:

Employer survey and consultation:
- Assessment of current bicycling facilities and policies
- Recommendations for improvement

Employee Education or “brown bag lunches”:
- Commuting 101 targeted toward first time commuters
- Basic bicycle repair and maintenance
- Choosing a route including current commuters as mentors
- Confident cycling skills (both classroom lesson and on-bicycle lesson)

Encouragement Program Creation:
- Development and execution of a company-wide encouragement program
- Program materials, consultation, and support

Opportunity for co-branded press releases, newsletter articles and other media exposure

Based on the needs of the company, the interests of the employees and the results of the initial employer survey, BCS programs will be customized for each client.

Sign Up Now
If you are interested in participating as one of the reduced rate pilot organizations/businesses, please contact Maggie Thompson, Bicycle Colorado Assistant Director, at: Maggie@bicyclecolorado.org or 303-417-1544 x-15.

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Filed under Bicycles.
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Denver Launching Downtown Bike-Sharing Program

Posted by  on January 15, 2009

Adding a Downtown bike-sharing program isn’t one of the items on my Top 10 list (#7 coming soon), but it could be. As I learned today in Joel Warner’s blog post at Westword, this summer Denver will launch a bike sharing program similar to what we saw during the DNC last summer, which filled Denver’s Downtown streets with bicycles and, along with the mass of pedestrians, gave us a peek into Downtown Denver’s potential future where the automobile does not reign supreme. Known as B-Cycle, the program will bring 500 or so bikes to 30 bike stations scattered around Downtown. Read Joel’s blog for all the details.

What a great way to promote alternative transportation in Downtown and to give people another option for getting out of their cars! Along with our growing transit system and planned pedestrian and bike lane improvements, we’re slowing turning the ship from its 50-year course of giving the automobile priority in our built environment. More good news for Downtown Denver.

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Downtown Denver’s 18th Street Pedestrian Bridge Design

Posted by  on May 8, 2007

First, there was the Millennium Bridge, followed by the Platte River Pedestrian Bridge. Then came the Highland Bridge. Now, are you ready for the next and final installment of the Central Platte Valley pedestrian bridges?

Introducing… the 18th Street Pedestrian Bridge! This final CPV pedestrian bridge will span the Consolidated Main Line railroad tracks and connect the Union Station redevelopment area with the Riverfront Park area along 18th Street. On the Riverfront Park side, the base of the bridge will be located between the Glass House and the Manhattan. On the Union Station side, it will be located between to the City House project (slated to begin construction this year) and the relocated Light Rail station that’s part of the FasTracks multi-modal transit hub behind Union Station.

The 18th Street Pedestrian Bridge will be painted steel with perforated metal panels inset from the truss. The elevators will be glass on two sides with petina copper on the other two sides. The elevator car itself will be polished copper. The stairs at the north (Riverfront Park) end will be painted metal. The grand stairway at the south (Union Station) end will be a metal structure with granite steps and a granite wall feature that faces the street corner.

Here are a few images, courtesty of East-West Partners. The three perspectives below are viewed from (or above) the future Light Rail station along the CML tracks at the end of 17th Street. The building on the left is the Manhattan, and the building on the right is the proposed City House:

Below, the image on the left is looking toward the bridge from the foot of 18th Street on the Union Station side. The middle image is looking northeast down the tracks from the future Light Rail station with the Manhattan on the left and City House on the right. The image on the right is viewed from the top of the north tower of the Glass House, looking down and to the east:

Construction of the new pedestrian bridge should be complete by 2009-2010.

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Filed under Bicycles, Central Platte Valley, Pedestrians, Union Station.
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