Today we will be focusing on the underground bus terminal right behind the historic station, along with the reconstruction of the 16th Street Mall in the Union Station area.
Looking out the northwest side of the historic station, workers are starting to cap and back fill the bus terminal (the dirt pile is beginning to get smaller). Stoplights are also beginning to be installed in preparation of rebuilding Wewatta Street.
Kiewit has a great webcam mounted on top of 1900 16th Street. Check out the link for more great angles of the entire project, as well as photos from the past two years. In this Kiewit image below, six of the eight Commuter Rail platforms are visible (the other two will be shifted down a bit towards 18th Street). Also visible on the left is the rectangular hole through which elevators, stairs, and escalators will provide vertical access between the underground pedestrian concourse and the street level. That access point is the Wewatta Pavilion, which will be a twin of the Chestnut Pavilion located by the Light Rail Station.
Heading over to the Mall, a lot of new concrete paving is underway, and portions are beginning to be completed. In the first photo you can see the new roadway under construction as well as new stop lights. In the second photo, the new wide sidewalks and multicolored concrete have been completed and new street trees planted.
The old railroad tracks are also being removed along 16th Street.
On the next Union Station update, we will focus on the 17th Street Gardens, as significant progress has been made.
Do you remember what the order of the trains will be left-to-right in the Kiewit webcam photo? I seem to remember the Airport line will be the closest to the station itself, but all of the other lines escape me.
From SE to NW:
Platform
Track 1: East Line
Track 2: North Metro Line
Track 3: Empty, available for future needs
Double length platform SE side (Track 2 closest to 16th Street, platform pulls back ~15′ for Track 3. Full length platform on Track 4 side.
Track 4: Amtrak
Track 5: Amtrak
Double length platform like the one above, but mirrored.
Track 6: Northwest Line
Track 7: Gold Line
Track 8: Gold Line
Platform
Of course, everything is subject to change.
I am definitely thinking the plans have been changed (probably only a little) since the last released document. Why?
(1) The Amtrak tracks were supposed to have a service platform in the middle. That seems to be absent, so far.
(2) The trackway for track 8 either stops before the bus box or it is elevated higher than the other tracks. (I think it stops before the bus box.)
Thanks Ryan, I always look forward to the Union Station updates. Do you know when 16th street is supposed to be completed and how soon we’ll get the sidewalk back from in front of Union Station?