HOME/INTRO • HISTORY • DEMOLITION • RECONSTRUCTION • EPILOGUE
HOME/INTRO
• HISTORY
• DEMOLITION • RECONSTRUCTION
• EPILOGUE
Disclaimer: This is an unofficial site. It is not affiliated with or endorsed by CDOT, RTD, or the T-REX Project.
|
SECC's schedule had the demolition of the Steele Street bridge occurring in early 2002. Vehicles would be directed to use University or Colorado boulevards as detours. However, closing the bridge would cut off a heavily used pedestrian route, one that connected two sides of the neighborhood and provided easy access to an elementary/middle school campus just one block north of the bridge. Thus, pedestrian access would have be kept open somehow during the months the bridge was reconstructed. To do this SECC built a temporary pedestrian bridge adjacent to the east side of the bridge that could be used by pedestrians while the Steele Street bridge was gone. |
|
At right is the scene at the south end of the bridge a week after the bridge was closed (13Jan02). The sidewalk along the west side (left side of the photo) is still open. |
|
|
|
As the date for demolition drew closer, SECC began work around the bridge to ready it for demolition by removing fences and trees and excavating dirt away from the structure. On Saturday, February 2, 2002, just a little over 24 hours before demolition was to start, the temporary pedestrian overpass opened, shown at right (3Feb02, photo by Andy Field). |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Steele Street Bridge:
HOME/INTRO
• HISTORY
• DEMOLITION • RECONSTRUCTION
• EPILOGUE
Continue:
Page created 19 April 2002
Last updated 21 September 2002
SECC
closed the Steele Street bridge to vehicle traffic the
morning of Monday, January 7, 2002. At first pedestrian
access would be maintained on the old bridge's west sidewalk
while the bridge was readied for demolition.
In
this photo, taken looking north along the bridge, there are
girders being prepped on the bridge (13Jan02). The girders
will become part of the temporary pedestrian overpass off
the east side of the bridge (right side of photo).
SECC
set the dates for demolition of the bridge as February 3, 4
and 5, 2002, Sunday to Tuesday. I-25 would be closed at 9pm
and reopen by 5:30am, between Santa Fe Drive and Hampden
Avenue.
Another
view of the temporary pedestrian bridge, here from
southbound I-25 (10Feb02).
As
part of being allowed to work at night, the City of Denver
required that SECC mitigate noise. Noise from nighttime
bridge demolition was a great concern for neighbors. SECC
put in place these sound-absorbing trailers shown at right
(2Feb02) in between the work area and adjacent homes to try
to diminish the noise, and handed out hotel vouchers to
several dozen families in the area for them to go stay at a
hotel.
Shown
in this photo is an example of the bits that are used to
demolish the bridge (2Feb02). Known as a pneumatic hammer,
the bit goes on the end of the boom of a standard excavator
crawler. The bit is basically a giant jack hammer, and just
pounds and breaks up the bridge. The photo doesn't do
justice to how large it is; for that look at the next photo
below and notice the person standing next to it to get a
sense of scale.
At
right is an example of the demolition rigs (3Feb02, photo by
Andy Field). Penhall Company was SECC's subcontractor for
the demolition.
The
end result of the demolition operation: Piles of concrete,
wood, and steel rubble in a vacant portion of the
I-25/Colorado Blvd. interchange (10Feb02). As the bridge was
demolished with the pneumatic hammers, the debris was loaded
into trucks and hauled here. The rubble also includes the
spoils from other demolition operations along I-25,
including median barrier, trees, and the Franklin Street
bridge.