The last few days marks another milestone for the Union Station project. The bus terminal roof structure is under construction. Following is a progression of photos starting the placement of the first beam on Friday morning. The last one gets you up to date as of mid-afternoon on Tuesday.
You can see additional recent photos on our Denver Union Station page at JobSiteVistor.com.
Not sure if this started yesterday or this morning, but they have started backfilling the southern wall of the bus box.
Adam, good observation! Over the past few days, I have taken several photos of the backfilling process. I will write a blog on the topic soon and post the photos.
I can’t believe how fast they’re moving… Does anyone know the plan for digging out the remainder of the bus box hole? Are they waiting until the new Light Rail and MallRide stations are finished so that they can tear out the old ones? And I assume that they’re obviously going to have to close Wewatta St, correct? And how are they going to protect Union Station when construction begins literally on its back doorstep?
I drive Wewatta almost every day, and just am curious as to the changes I should anticipate. 🙂
Matt, here is a general summary of the steps for excavating the rest of the bus terminal.
The roof of the current section of the bus terminal will be completed. Chestnut Street will be rebuilt over the top of the bus terminal. Seventeenth Street will be built for two blocks alongside the bus terminal roof from Wewatta Street to the new mall shuttle station. Vehicular traffic can then be rerouted from Wewatta to Chestnut. The mall shuttle can be rerouted to the new station at the foot of the Millennium Bridge and the light rail can be rerouted to the new station along the freight tracks.
At that point, Wewatta Street can be shut down and removed. The current mall shuttle station and the light rail station can be dismantled. Excavation can resume.
I don’t know how the historic station will be protected during the excavation activity. Nor do I know the timing, but it will be awhile. I’ll get answers at post them sometime soon.
Chestnut Street will