The most visible current activity is the reconstruction of Chestnut Place that will connect 16th and 20th streets as it crosses over the top of the new underground bus terminal. The first photo shows the reconstruction of the Chestnut Place – 18th Street intersection. The second photo shows the first leg of the new Chestnut Place as it begins to stretch from 16th Street toward its destination with the intersection in the first photo. Between the two photos is the underground bus terminal over which Chestnut Place will pass. In the second photo you can see that the new route of the 16th Mall Shuttle is starting to take shape. The modified triangular canopy is the new shuttle station.
Before the end of August, the extended route of the shuttle will cross Wewatta Street, turn right onto the new Chestnut Place, turn left onto 17th Street which will be on the roof of the bus terminal but is not yet visible, and turn left onto the new street that’s under construction along the front of the shuttle station. After dropping off and picking up passengers, the shuttle will leave the station, turn left onto 16th Street, and continue on its way to the mall.
Demolition work continues behind the historic station. The following photo shows the breadth of the work. The remains of two of the three tunnels are visible if you look closely. The baggage tunnel is left center and visible only as two vertical concrete walls. All that left of the passenger tunnel is the gaping hole in the back of the station slightly to the left of center. The mail tunnel is hidden by a pile of dirt near the excavator in the right center of the photo.
Today, I took the photos above. Tomorrow, I expect to take more that I will upload to our Denver Union Station page at JobSiteVistor.com.
Great updates! I read awhile back that Davita provides corporate training at its HQ for a lot of its out of state employees. With Denver’s central location, the future commuter rail running from DIA to Union Station and their HQ right there, the move to Denver makes perfect sense. A good formula if you ask me. More and more companies should see the benefits of having their HQ at Union Station.
Great post and photos. What is the projected date that Chestnut will be open for traffic?
The new light rail station and mall shuttle station are slated to open in late-August. Therefore, I would say that Chestnut Place would be open for traffic some time before then. So my quick answer is: within two months.
Hey Rick-
Do you know why the delay in opening the LR and mall bus? They were supposed to be open mid July if I remember correctly from entry 57 or 58.
Thanks
Chris
Chris, I can answer that. While they were going to shut down LRT to DUS for a few weeks in July to tie the new tracks into the existing line and finish the mall shuttle loop, separately, the West Corridor team was going to do a similar shut down in August to tie their tracks into the line at the new Auraria West Campus station. It made sense to shut the line down once and do both tie-ins at the same time, so the DUS switch over was delayed a month or so for that reason.
Tanks Ken, follow up question….so will the line be shut down from Auraria – south at that point until they get both areas tied in?
thanks
Chris
From what I understand, the C & E lines will end at 10th & Osage. RTD will offer a shuttle bus from there to DUS. Or one could just take one of the other lines to 16th & California and then use the mall shuttle to get to DUS.