Tuesday, April 20, 2010

USA April 2010 News Summary

This issue continues to provide USA Members with reports of meetings related to the Union Station redevelopment project that occurred this month, plus adds a new feature regarding updates by our Reporter on the Ground monitoring the construction. Our Reporter provides a summary of activity between March 30th and April 13th in this News Update, but for those of you that want more frequent updates and lots more photos, we direct you to this link: www.denverinfill.com/blog where our Reporter on the Ground provides regular construction updates and a link to DenverInfill’s page at JobSiteVisitor where even more DUS photos are stored and accessible to the public.

We begin with reports on a DUSPA Meeting and ULI Conference, then move to the official DUSPA construction report, followed by our summarized report (with photos) from our Reporter on the Ground, and end with notice of an upcoming Landmark Preservation Commission meeting on April 20, 2010.

April 1, 2010 DUSPA Meeting

The public portion of the meeting was short as some of the principles were presenting at a ULI meeting (described below). A legal agreement with the City regarding the Lodgers Tax and Assignment for the TIF was mentioned in context of TIFIA/RIFF loan discussions. Also mentioned, construction is underway and the latest design for the Wynkoop Plaza will be presented to the board in a future meeting.

April 1 Urban Land Institute DUS Event

On April 1, the Colorado chapter of the Urban Land Institute held their quarterly Explorer Series meeting with Union Station as the focus. The program took an in-depth look at the entire DUS project and began with a panel discussion about the project at the Denver Athletic Club, followed by a tour of the DUS site with project experts, and finished with a hosted reception inside the historic station. Over 180 people were in attendance!

April 7, 2010 Official Construction Update from DUSPA

With the arrival of spring weather, construction of the Denver Union Station transit improvements is becoming more active. Some of the current activities you can expect to see over the next few weeks are:

- Crews are busy excavating dirt for the underground bus facility using 30- 45 trucks each day. This activity will go on for about 30 more days at which point the dirt will be stock piled on site instead of being hauled away.

- Pumping to lower the ground water level to allow for excavation to continue is on-going. There are 10 pumps running 24 hours a day.

- Crews are working on a retaining wall that will support part of the new light rail tracks near the Consolidated Main Line (CML).

- Utilities will be relocated east of Wewatta St. near 19th St.

- Unused commuter rail track will be removed starting at approximately 20th St and moving south towards 14th St. This work will take about 30 days.

Now more than ever, it's important for you to stay informed by becoming a subscriber to our e-newsletter, visiting the Denver Union Station Web site often and utilizing the tools that have been established to keep you updated on progress and impacts.

To get the latest information on construction, please visit the project's Web site at: www.denverunionstation.org.

Construction Update from our USA “Reporter on the Ground” (as of April 16)

Let’s begin with two photos. This first one was taken March 30:

And this one was taken on April 13:


A picture is worth a thousand words so two pictures must be worth, well, a lot more. This Union Station update will focus on the changes in these two pictures taken on March 30 and April 13. The most obvious progress is the size of the hole that will eventually be home to the underground RTD bus terminal. It’s commonly referred to as the bus box. The hole will be 1,200 feet long, 165 feet wide and 28 feet deep. The bus box will fit in that hole and will be somewhat smaller.

At the time of the second photo, the hole had nearly reached its eventual width. Excavation work is now focused on expanding the hole toward the historic station. Soon, Kiewit (the contractor) will begin digging the hole deeper. It appears that it is currently about 15 feet deep. To make it deeper, bulldozers will push dirt into a hopper. The hopper will deliver the dirt to a conveyer system which will raise it to the surface where it will be stored to be used later as backfill around the concrete bus box.

What follows will give you a sense for the complexity of this massive project. Towards the top of the second photo, you can see two tall pieces of equipment. One is a well driller; the other is a crane. The crane places 25-30 foot long i-beams into the hole made by the driller. As the bus box hole is dug, large boards are fastened to the vertical i-beams forming a wall that will shore up the sides of the hole to prevent collapse. The shoring wall will be along what was the center of Wewatta Street (the west side of the street was removed before the first photo was taken). The wall will go between the original water and sewer lines that ran under the west side of the street and the new, bypass water and sewer lines that were installed last summer under the east side of the street. Over the past few weeks, water and sewage have been diverted to the bypass pipes. As the hole is dug, the original pipes will be removed. The original pipes will be rebuilt over the top of the bus box and water, and sewage will be diverted back to the original route. Then the bypass pipes will be removed and digging will continue towards the historic station.

Meanwhile, there is plenty of other activity. Tracks are being removed from the area immediately behind the historic station. A retaining wall that will be part of the new light rail station is being built alongside the consolidated main line (the freight tracks) near the Millennium Bridge. The granite sidewalk has been removed along 16th Street between Wewatta Street and the Millennium Bridge.

The level of planning and coordination for this project is impressive and is resulting in a very efficient operation.

Note: For official construction notices, sign up to receive project updates and notifications at: www.denverunionstation.org and, in the lower right corner of the home page, enter your email address, then click on GO. You can also follow along with DUS construction updates, including photos, at the DenverInfill Blog (www.DenverInfill.com/blog/)

April 20, 2010 Landmark Preservation Commission (LPC) Meeting

The next LPC meeting will address Denver Union Station. The meeting will include Hargreaves presenting the landscape concept for Wynkoop Plaza located east of the Station Building and architects Anderson Mason Dale and Semple Brown presenting the conceptual design for the North and South Wing Buildings. The presentation can be viewed at:

http://www.denverunionstation.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=75&Itemid=72

USA Plans Upcoming Meeting with Landscape Architects

On May 13th the Union Station Advocates will partner with the American Society of Landscape Architects and other local design and planning groups in showing William H. Whyte’s, classic film, The Social Life of Small Urban Spaces. Following the film we’ll facilitate an open discussion surrounding these design principles and how they may be applied to Denver’s Union Station. We’ll post all the event details at www.unionstationadvocates.org in the days to come. The Social Life of Small Urban Spaces: Whyte wrote that the social life in public spaces contributes fundamentally to the quality of life of individuals and society. He suggested that we have a moral responsibility to create physical places that facilitate civic engagement and community interaction.

Membership Renewal Time!

For those of you that joined Union Station Advocates in late 2008 or early 2009, it is now time to renew your membership! Your continued support is much appreciated. Please keep an eye out for an email concerning your membership renewal or you can go to the USA membership webpage and renew today: http://www.unionstationadvocates.org/membership.html

Thank you for your continued support!

Union Station Advocates Roundtable

The Roundtables continue to be an effective and engaging meeting allowing our members to have informal discussions on important issues of the Union Station project. Led by USA board member and architect Levi Reeves, each Roundtable meeting provides the opportunity for attendees to discuss in-depth a topic associated with the Union Station project. A few days before each Roundtable, all USA members will receive an invitation via email for the upcoming meeting with an opportunity to RSVP.

Union Station Advocates Is Now On Facebook!

Are you a USA member or just excited about our historic Union Station and its big transformation? Join us on Facebook by being a fan of Union Station Advocates! Here’s a link:

http://www.facebook.com/home.php#/pages/Union-Station-Advocates/43803914945?ref=ts

To download a PDF of this News Summary, click
here.