DenverInfill Blog

You may have noticed some tear-drop shapes in the foreground of the picture in my previous posting (Kyle referenced them in his comment yesterday). Some are concrete; some are dirt; others are partially green. Here is a closeup of what will become the first elements of the project that are strictly ornamental.

The following two images are renderings from the DUSPA website. If you look carefully at the upper center of the first rendering, you can see that those tear-drop shapes will become gardens.  The second rendering is a better view at the street level.

And what’s up with the blue shrink-wrap on the new vent tubes? Well, there is a lot of work going on in the immediate area so the blue wrap is simply to protect them from damage.

As always, it’s a delight to return home to see the progress at Union Station (I’ve been out of town for two weeks). This week, I’ll get us up to date with multiple posts.

Today, we will look at the most obvious change. There is new pile of dirt along 16th Street. Excavation of the second half of the bus terminal is in full swing. As was the case with the first half of the bus terminal, this pile of “clean” dirt will eventually be used to back-fill behind the walls and to cover the roof. During my photo tour yesterday afternoon, I overheard two Kiewit employees taking about the pile. One mentioned to the other that it contains (or will contain) 65,000 cubic yards of dirt.

Almost all of the concrete that was the light rail station and mall shuttle station has been broken up, removed, and sent to the recycling location. Similarly, the top several feet of dirt that was contaminated by a century of coal dust is being removed from the site.

Today’s quiz: What is missing in the photo above? As with the handful of previous Union Station quizzes, the prize for the correct answer is an all-expense-paid trip on the 16th Street mall shuttle.

Here is a bonus photo unrelated to the Union Station project.  Last evening a train loaded with wind mill blades cruised through town.  I counted 39 blades on 78 cars … yes, it took two cars to carry each blade.

Please go to our Denver Union Station page at JobSiteVistor.com to view 22 new photos including another one of the wind mill blades.

Remember this scene from Update #12 way back on April 29, 2010?  Go to Update #12 here to get access to the larger version of the photo.

That conveyor system made relatively short work of moving dirt from the hole into huge piles along two sides of what is now the underground bus terminal. Digging for the second half of the terminal has been underway for a few weeks.  Today, Kiewit started to assemble the conveyor system again (see the upper right corner in the photo below).  This time, the dirt pile will be next to 16th Street where the tracks remain in the street.

Also notice in the photo above that the old platforms for the mall shuttle and the light rail stations are being ripped up. Certainly, we will see full-scale excavation of the area very soon.

If I have time later today, I will add a close-up shot of the activity to this posting.

Don’t forget to go to our Denver Union Station page at JobSiteVistor.com to view all of the photos.

Today is another story of going, going, gone. This time, it’s the final blow to the old canopies at the light rail station, at the mall shuttle station, and over the entrance to the recently demolished Union Station passenger tunnel.

Going …

Going …

Gone …