Officials with the Denver International Airport will decide this year whether to move ahead with a signature rail bridge design, unveiled July 29, by architect-structural engineer Santiago Calatrava. The 720-ft-long suspension bridge would likely have a $60-million-plus price tag, which is more than double preliminary cost estimates.
The symmetrical, tied-arch, steel-and-concrete span is planned as part of a $650-million south terminal redevelopment, which also includes a hotel and a train station. But it is also part of a commuter rail link owned by Denver’s Rapid Transportation District (RTD). The new airport-rail link in general will be financed, built, maintained and operated undera 46-year public-private partnership (P3) agreement.But if the airport decides to move forward with the signature bridge, it will be built under a separate construction management-general contractor contract with Edward Kraemer & Sons, Plain, Wis., according to Dave Rhodes, the airport’s deputy manager of engineering and planning.
罗德斯说，另一个可能性是，该机场将把桥梁返回特许经营者，这是由澳大利亚悉尼和德克萨斯州欧文的Fluor Corp.领导的团队。P3团队的设计将是标准的混凝土梁桥。
P3团队最终完成资金后，官员们将更好地了解桥梁将从特许经营者那里获得多少资金，这是预计本月的。得益于一项机构协议，该机场可以决定采用P3团队的设计并改进它。罗德斯说：“我们会给卡拉特拉瓦和帕森斯的这些改进。”“我们正在寻找一座桥梁，可以更好地满足机场的未来需求，并比基本标准设计更大。”
Located about a mile-and-a-half from the airport, which is 25 miles from Denver proper, the Calatrava-designed bridge would feature a 620-ft-long main span with a box girder deck that hangs from a single arch by cables. The main span is flanked by orthotropic decks on steel ribs. The distance from the roadway to the top of the bridge is 144 ft. According to Calatrava’s engineer-son, Gabriel, the bridge’s deck, without train tracks, would most likely be manufactured off site and then “launched” into place, using temporary supports to limit traffic disruption on the street below. A crane would then lift the arch into place in sections and the cables would be attached.
Calatrava is a member of a team led by Parsons Transportation Group’s Denver office, which is the program manager for the overall redevelopment. The project, financed mostly by general airport revenue bonds, includes a canopy-covered train station otherwise open to the elements, and a 500-room hotel.
预计该桥梁和酒店将于2013年完成。预计两年后火车站的完成。通勤铁路服务计划于2016年开始。
在铁路桥梁设计的揭幕,Santiago Calatrava said his biggest challenge was to design a hotel and train station complex that would complement the airport’s main terminal, which has a fabric roof featuring a series of peaks that reflect mountains nearby.
“It is always a problem to add to an existing building,” says Calatrava. “In this case, it is an outstanding building that has become an icon.”
