I know it’s a bit out of order – and we’ll get to see the Oak Station here in the next days – but RTD turned on the lights at the 6th Avenue Bridge for the first time last night in front of a crowd of 300 or so. Thanks to the folks at RTD for the pictures as my camera doesn’t take very good nighttime shots.
The 1.2 million pound (600 ton) bridge is at the site of a past at-grade crossing across 6th Avenue, which I understand was in place until the mid-1980s! The lighting scheme is permanent and will be on nightly, thanks to LED lights positioned across the bridge. The lights have a lifespan of about 100,000 hours (or 11 years). These babies shouldn’t be burning out anytime soon. For more detailed information on the bridge, check out this past blog post from our initial tour along the corridor.
Opening is just 91 short days away!
Here’s my picture of the bridge from last night: http://www.flickr.com/photos/denverjeffrey/8410307602/
That railroad crossing was around well into the 90s. I moved to Denver in 1990 and I remember having to slow down over that spot all the time.
Even later than I had heard! I’m really surprised that was there!
We really don’t have that many bridges in Denver compared to cities near significant bodies of water. It’s nice to see some flair on one of our few bridges. Also, if they’re only keeping the lights on nly at night, it would be interesting if they end up lasting 22 years or more.
Don’t forget about te stoplight on the freeway at the same location.
To be picky, without the outline of the main bridge lighted as well, the cris cross supports just look like a bunch of X’s with nothing holding them up or grounding them. Also, Upon entering the city from 6th ave, this had been a great vantage point to view Downtown before this gigantic bridge was built. I would have preferred to see this on the way to DIA or the money spent on it put towards the original Calatrava iconic bridge. In this location, I would have liked to see a higher more customary RTD fly over bridge that doesn’t block the view of Downtown on aproach but thats just me.