The most visible signs of progress along the East Rail Line to DIA can be now be seen along Peña Boulevard as you approach DIA. Crews have begun grading operations and caisson drilling work to construct the rail bridge spanning Peña Boulevard. Check out this Flickr link for the pictures. These are pictures that would be a bit difficult for normal people to snag on their way to or from the airport, so a special thanks goes out to Eagle Project Public Information Manager Kevin Flynn.
This replaces the bridge design which was originally unveiled as a grandiose, “iconic”, white-arched bridge by Spanish architect Santiago Calatrava seen in the picture above. Thanks to its obscenely hefty price tag of nearly $60 million, it was scrapped by RTD and DIA. The new bridge will be a normal rail bridge (by RTD standards) with some yet-to-be-released aesthetic enhancements to dress it up a bit. As East Rail Line designs are finalized in the coming months, there should be something to share with everyone.
Next week, we’ll take a look at the initial demolition work going on at the future 38th and Blake Station in the River North neighborhood.
I wish they would have spent the money on the Calatrava iconic bridge instead of the “Art Installations” that line Pena Blvd. now. Calatrava bridges are world renowned; what a missed opportunity for Denver.
Do you really think that those “Art Installations” used up $60 million? I highly doubt it!! I’m all for great architecture too, but $60 million for a bridge does seem incredibly excessive. I’d much rather see that money go towards making a more functional rail line.
In what ways? Just curious because I really would have loved the Calatrava bridge but knowing how they made the rail line more functional with that money would make the loss a bit more bearable.
Is the rail line through that stretch being made more functional instead?
I know some of the issues were single line vs. dual line to lower costs. That would certainly be money better spent than a $60M bridge.
The bridge being constructed by RTD will be in the $12-15M range, so theoretically, yes. The money not spent on the bridge (upwards of $45M) can now be funneled back into the project. But another way to look at it is that the project can possibly be up to $45M less expensive. In this economic climate and given FasTracks’ financial situation, I’d say that’s a good thing.
60 million is nothing considering that Dallas spent almost 114$ million on their calatrava designed bridge and it’s beautiful!! We will never have anything like that here because we’re too damn cheap and not willing to take a chance on beautiful design!! Poor pity Denver.
Dallas got ripped off by Calatrava because their new bridge is exactly the same as bridges he already designed in Spain. I agree that we need to get rail service to Boulder, etc. before building an overly elaborate bridge just to cross over a road. At least the bridge in Dallas is over a river and near downtown.
Actually, the bridge he designed for DIA is exactly the same as some of his bridges in Italy. I find it very arrogant when starchitects collect huge fees when they just rehash old designs. Then again, Calatrava has made a whole career out ripping off Eero Saarinan, Le Courbosier, and other Mid-century Modernists.
I work for Union Pacific here in Denver. Just thought I’d pass along that there is a lot of grading going on along our line between York and at least to Colorado, if not more. I haven’t checked east of Colorado.
Also they have demoed a lot of the buildings needed to enable construction of the 38th/Blake station.
Next blog post is on the demo at 38th/Blake.
Tragically torn on the issue. $60m for a bridge is a LOT of money, but that bridge really would’ve tied the room together…
I too am split on this issue. Hard to argue with the economics of the decision, but doing the affordable thing can be a slippery slope…Just look at [insert community name of choice].
As far as I know, the airport has its own art budget – this is separate from the funds used to build the rail line.
With all of the issues surrounding the FasTracks budget, I think we can all agree spending $60 million on a bridge – as elegant as it would be – isn’t the best use of the limited funds available in the program.
As a disclaimer, I think Calatrava is good, but also incredibly overrated and not worth his fees. That said, considering Boulder may not even get train service now due to budget constraints, I think building a $60m bridge would have been in incredibly poor taste. We can’t forget that, due to the fact that RTD needs to ask for another round of tax increases to get it built, Fastracks is a political animal at this point. If Fastracks isn’t already sunk with tax payers (which I hope it isn’t), a $60m bridge, and the attendant headlines, would have surely sunk it.
Also re Dallas building a $114m bridge, guarantee given the significantly larger population in the Dallas metro area that that bridge cost less on a per person basis than a $60m bridge in Denver.
I agree, they should have kept the Calatrava bridge. The money also can be used in other places..
Either way, they shouldn’t post the photo of the beautiful bridge we WON’T BE GETTING. LOL!