I hope you aren’t getting sick of my tower crane posts yet because there is still a lot to cover as August is turning into the month of cranes. Over at 1144 Fifteenth, workers started erecting the new, red, top slewing tower crane.

But Ryan, you may ask, how do you know this is going to be a top slewing tower crane and not a luffing jib? Well, luffing jib cranes are used for tight urban spaces. They are usually near the center of the site, start out very short, and climb with the building. The tower mast for this particular crane is on the sidewalk, outside the project site away from the Four Seasons, and over 200 feet tall to clear its neighbor Park Central.

Because of the weather and wind, work on this crane will go into tomorrow. Here are some shots I took this evening of the work in progress.

2015-08-15_1144Fifteenth-02 2015-08-15_1144Fifteenth-01

How many tower cranes are around Downtown Denver and Cherry Creek? Luckily, I made a fun little graphic:

2015-08-15_CraneCount

Now that’s a lot of cranes!