You may not remember what the site looked like before – that’s because there was nothing there. The groundbreaking was held at the site, but three or four stories higher than where the construction is occurring now! DenverInfill covered the groundbreaking ceremony in August 2010 in this post.

Because the site is located at one of the busiest airports on the planet, it’s rather difficult to get good pictures. It’s even more difficult to get pictures from within the construction site. Thanks (again) to our friends at RTD, we have one of our first looks at the major construction project that is the South Terminal Redevelopment Project (STRP). Take a look at the slideshow.

Also, thanks to Brian Weihrauch at RTD, we have a few additional pics. The rebar and concrete is being constructed to serve as the brace for the massive canopy that will cover the train station.

This $500 million project will be anchored by a 500-room Westin Hotel and is scheduled to be complete in 2015!

Photo from Dave Soldano on flickr.

According to the Denver Post, the bridge’s wooden roadbed is charred. Its steel structure is intact but will need to be evaluated. The aerial tram has been destroyed and its cable collapsed to the bottom of the canyon.

Thankfully, none of the park employees or guests were harmed.

The Royal Gorge Bridge was built in 1929. It is Colorado’s only large suspension bridge, although there are other smaller ones in the state. Until 2001 it was the highest bridge in the world, crossing 955 feet above the Arkansas River. That record is now held by France’s Millau Viaduct China’s Sidu River Bridge.

RTD’s bus route 76 is one of the best lines in the system, with buses running up and down Wadsworth Boulevard with rail-like frequency. On top of that, route 26 runs along Wadsworth between Belmar and 26th Street. Between those two routes, buses run from Belmar to light rail every few minutes.

But unless you already ride one of those routes, or you’ve memorized the bus system, you probably don’t know that.

In the long term, a uniform brand for high-frequency bus routes could help more riders think of buses the same way they think of rail, but in the short term, how about something like this:

That’s not a whole new paint job, it’s just a large sticker applied to the side of an existing bus that advertises an important connection. RTD could roll this out next month if they wanted.

Other bus agencies around the country do this when they want to highlight a particular destination, or give a single route a special brand. Here are three examples from Washington, DC, showing a colorful brand marker atop the standard bus livery:

In fact, RTD already does something like this for the 16th Street shuttle, with its special “Mall Ride” brand. Why not more? If it helps a few more riders become comfortable enough to use transit, and has no apparent downside, then let’s do it.

Though it’s often exciting to witness a well-preserved historic building or space, it’s often the urban features that are camouflaged or embedded in the infrastructure of the present that are so profound. It is incredibly important to document the past and to have record of the ways in which our urban spaces were once used (i.e. books, photos, maps). Beyond that, there is an undeniable excitement preserved for the urban enthusiast in stumbling across the urban artifacts that dot the city’s landscape, leaving clues to a past he or she has never experienced.

What makes them interesting is that they are invisible, insignificant or simply misunderstood by the general public. Long metallic strips that sink into the street resembling a scene out of Pompeii are really just a reference to the rail age of our cities that has come and gone. Still intact, but encapsulated in a river of solid asphalt, the lines are like a mosquito preserved in a solid mass of amber. In Denver and most other major US cities, these lines surface to reveal themselves from time to time. Sometimes you’ll even get lucky enough to witness road construction taking place where the asphalt has been scalped back to reveal a lovely cobblestone or brick path peacefully resting below.

[Photos by Denverurbanism.com]

These purposeless hints of history that serve as nothing but infrastructural ruins have a story to tell about a way of life that is obsolete. For instance, in Cincinnati and Pittsburgh, stairway networks once ran up and down the hillsides, taming the terrain and providing access throughout the city for pedestrians.  Today, many of those stairways have been removed, some sport the accessory of an “access forbidden” sign, and still others lay crumbled across the hillsides in disrepair. It’s odd to think that at some point, the car deemed these forms of infrastructure unworthy of their own traffic.

[top left - Closed Stairs, Cincinnati, via building-cincinnati.com; top right - Abandoned Public Stairs, Cincinnati, via globalsiteplans.com ; bottom left - Vintage Pittsburgh Stairs, via shorpy.com; bottom right - Operational Public Stairs - Cincinnati, via soapboxmedia.com]

Even the most micro-level urban artifacts can be found if you look closely enough at your surroundings. Each city has found ways to cope with the natural environment it is surrounded by. These relics provide a window for us to see how our urban predecessors managed to mitigate the obstacles encountered in everyday life. In Boston, scores of historic buildings have an odd iron fixture just near the foot of each stoop. The “boot scrapers” were implemented as early as the 1600s to combat the dilemma of tracking mud (and animal droppings) into the beautiful homes of Beacon Hill. Since few people get around on horseback these days, and since our cars don’t poop on our streets (just in our air), they serve only an ornamental function.

[All photographs provided by Beacon Hill resident, Dominic Berardi]

And lastly, zooming back out to a larger-scale affect of this concept is the unique occurrence of the number of mini business districts scattered about Denver. Moving here, I often wondered why there were so many business districts that made up nothing more than a block or two. While this question piqued my curiosity for some time, it seemed like a no-brainer when I was finally informed of the reasoning. I was told that if I took a look at a streetcar map, I would see most all of the streetcar stops aligning with the mini districts in question. This case is a bit different from the others in that it is not purely an object left behind, but rather an urban form produced by the technology of the times.

So, now I encourage you to question the peculiar and pay attention to details. There is plenty your city or neighborhood has to tell you about its past without visiting a library or a museum. And for any of you urban explorers, feel free to populate the comments section with any additional examples of urban artifacts where you live!

I had to capture this building at both day and night. The street presence this building adds to this segment of 15th Street is phenomenal, especially at night given this is a very dark not-so-pedestrian-friendly area in our downtown. This is a 12-story building that is divided in two for each hotel. The Hampton Inn will have 120-units occupying floors 2 through 5, and the Homewood Suites will occupy floors 6 through 12 with 182-units. There are two separate check in desks but the amenities, pool and fitness room, are shared.

There is a drive-up valet loop which does require cars to cross over the sidewalk just like its next door neighbor, the Hyatt Regency. In these two pictures alone, you can clearly see how this building engages the street level much better than how it used to. It’s also all about the details between the artistic awnings, lit columns and blue accented entryways.

Heading down Welton, you will find an outdoor patio and entrance to the hotel bar. The lobby has also been opened up. When walking around the building, you will have floor-to-ceiling glass views of the lobby.

This adaptive reuse project is something this segment of 15th Street really needed. Between the new protected bike lane and the aLoft under-construction, this street is beginning to see a transformation that will help enhance the pedestrian experience on 15th Street.

Inevitably (and understandably so), questions are raised as to why the shells for the trains are being made somewhere other than the United States. In response, RTD has stated this:

“There are no U.S.-owned builder of electric commuter rail cars. However, Hyundai Rotem also will be assembling these cars in the United States with home-grown parts and labor. After the steel shells are fabricated in Korea, they are being shipped to Hyundai’s assembly plant in Philadelphia for the rest of the work. They comply with Buy America rules, and most of the major components are built in America including the wheels and trucks, braking system, propulsion system, train control system, floors, seats, doors, windows, HVAC and others.”

It’s obviously a little more difficult to go take pictures of the trains in development, so we get our first look at some of the rigorous testing that they’re being put through thanks to our friends at RTD.

The tests they’re being put through range from everything between safety issues and clearance testing to extreme temperature and electrical tests. Essentially, they’re making sure the trains can do everything we will all need them to prior to sending the shells away for final assembly in Philidelphia and delivery here in Denver.

Look for delivery of these trains to Denver sometime late next year!

Also, a quick reminder to everyone who drives near FasTracks (and any other) construction sites. As both the East, Gold, NWES, and I-225 Rail Lines accelerate major construction elements, it’s of extra importance to keep your speeds lower and keep an eye out construction crews. They’re hard at work to make sure that we have another safe transportation mode, so we owe it to them to keep them safe as well. Driving a little slower and more cautious in construction zones won’t hurt you, but it may just help keep someone on a construction crew safe.

The League of American Bicyclists publishes a ranking of the most bicycle-friendly cities in the country. For years the only 3 cities to attain the highest score of platinum were Boulder, Portland, OR, and Davis, CA. But earlier this month they added a 4th to the list: Fort Collins.

The league awards scores of platinum, gold, silver, and bronze. To score highly, a city needs not only great bike infrastructure, but also great events, great recreational trails, educational opportunities, advertising, the whole package. Colorado cities typically excel in the latter categories especially.

Until now, no state had more than 1 platinum level city. Colorado is the first. According to the complete list of award winners, Colorado also has the most gold level cities, with 4.

Here are the local awardees:

Platinum:
Boulder
Fort Collins

Gold:
Breckenridge
Crested Butte
Durango
Steamboat Springs

Silver:
Aspen
Colorado Springs
Denver
Gunnison
Longmont

Bronze:
Arvada
Carbondale
Castle Rock
Golden
Greeley
Lakewood
Summit County
Vail

Across all of the Light Rail and Commuter Rail developments around the Denver Metro area there are some large and impressive bridges. The 6th Avenue crossings on the West Line certainly are impressive urban rail bridges and the Utah Junction on the Northwest Line and Peña Boulevard Crossing on the East Line are both huge bridges but one of the most impressive bridges in the entire system is currently in the works.

This bridge, called the I-70 Flyover Bridge, is nearly a mile long and will carry commuter trains over Interstate 70, Pagosa Street, East 32nd Avenue, Airport Boulevard and the Union Pacific tracks before landing north of Smith Road; approximate path shown below in red.

When completed, the bridge will be 4,985.25 feet long and 19.58 feet wide allowing for a single track over this span.

Currently, crews are constructing the piers as well as installing girders over a segment before 32nd Avenue. Later this year there will be a series of road closures and lane reductions for Airport Boulevard and Interstate 70 for girder and overhang installations and concrete deck pours; however, these dates have yet to be confirmed.

Other major bridges that are near completion along the East Line are Peña Boulevard Crossing, E-470 Bridge, Tower Road, Sand Creek and 38th Street.

I touched on the Peña Boulevard Crossing in my last post.

Girders are now installed over Tower Road (left) and East 56th Avenue (right); however, temporary lane reductions will continue while overhang installations and deck pours progress.

Track installation has already begun to the east of the bridge over Sand Creek near Central Park Boulevard (left) and the bridge over 38th Street near Blake Street (right).

In my next post, I will have updates on track installation and station construction along the East Line.

What’s different since the last time we checked in? Glass. This will open the lobby up to much more natural light. You can also see the new ground floor retail space to the right of the lobby entrance. The plaza area is being cleared off so we should see the plaza itself getting rebuilt soon.

This renovation adds a whole new face to 1801 California. You may not see anything different on the skyline but, a real city is not measured by its skyline. It’s measured by how a pedestrian interacts with the built environment at the street-level.

There are a lot of reinvestment and adaptive reuse projects going on around central downtown and I’m going to keep covering them as they come along. On my next post we will take a look at the completed adaptive reuse project at 550 15th Street.

East Rail Line crews have begun laying the first sections of ballasted track! This section is just east of Sand Creek and the Central Park Boulevard bridge in Stapleton. You can get a great look at it as your drive across the new Central Park bridge – just take a look to the east as you go over the train tracks. Thanks to our friends at RTD for this picture!

This is a great sign of progress for the project! Additional ballasted track will be laid in the coming weeks out along Peña Boulevard, but it won’t be as visible as this segment. Check DenverUrbanism often for East Rail Line and other FasTracks corridor updates from both Robert Wilson and myself in the coming weeks!