Most of the backfilling behind the bus terminal walls is now complete. Here’s a photo of the action last week on the 18th Street side of the terminal.
What’s missing in the first photo below? I took the first photo on June 15, 2010, and the second on March 10, 2011. Notice that the pile of dirt is significantly smaller. You can see most of Union Station to the left of the dirt pile in the second photo and almost all of the EPA Building to the right of the dirt pile in the same photo. Also, the dewatering system has been removed. The dirt, of course, was used for backfilling. The dewatering system is no longer needed now that the bus terminal is water-tight and the ground water level is seasonally low. You can see similar comparisons on our Denver Union Station page at JobSiteVistor.com. Click on the Plan View tab and then select the icon of the view you want to see. I’ve posted as many as 33 photos from many of the sites over the past year. It’s interesting to see the progress in a relatively short time.
Work on the Overhead Catenary System (OCS) is continuing. As a reminder, the OCS is the electrical system that provides power to the light rail trains. I took the photo below from the Union Gateway Bridge (aka 18th Street Pedestrian Bridge). You can see workers attaching catenary apparatus to the tops of the poles. In my next post, I’ll share details about what needs to be accomplished for the new light rail and mall shuttle stations to be operational, and when it will be done.
In answer to OJ shakewell’s recent question, the third set of tracks at the new light rail station will be used mostly for staging trains during specials events such as Rockies games and St. Patrick’s Day parades.
Here is another comparison. These two photos of the entrance/exit ramp of the bus terminal were taken a week apart. The first one, which is a closer shot, shows green rebar and white tubes. The tubes will circulate heated glycol inside the concrete ramp to melt snow and ice for safe bus travel into and out of the terminal. A similar system is in operation at the Market Street Station. I took the second photo this morning. Concrete, which is covered with black plastic, was poured yesterday.
Please see our Denver Union Station page at JobSiteVistor.com for more photos. Yesterday, I posted photos from last week and this week. And, there will be more later this week.
Thanks for the informative update. Glad to see the Catenary finally go up. Looks like the Light Rail platform could be in service tomorrow, besides the fact the tracks aren’t connected to the CPV extention.
I had a question about the Auraria West station. The recent West Corridor newsletter had a link to new station designs, and the new A. West station only shows a pair of platforms. I thought that there were to be three, like at I-25, so trains could have individual platforms for their different destinations. Can you confirm there are only two platforms? Is Rick going to do another East or West corridor update?
Thanks! I really enjoy infill.com!
Brennan, I don’t think it is necessary for each RTD line to have its own platform. I doubt all three lines (SE, SW, W) coming into Auraria West would arrive at the same time, so two platforms are probably sufficient.
Keep an eye out for Ryan’s non-Union Station updates over at DenverUrbanism.com
Oh, I didn’t think that it was all that necessary either. I just remember seeing a map of Auraria West that had a three platform layout. After all, the DUS LRT terminal will have but two platforms.