Most contractors don't have to worry about installing a catwalk high enough that an 8-ton Asian bull elephant on the ground can't reach a human handler walking across it, but that was one of the many challenges of building the Denver Zoo's new 10-acre, $50-million Toyota Elephant Passage exhibit. Related Links: Engineering News Record Architectural Record The most complex issue faced by the project team—led by the Denver office of general contractor Kiewit Building Group—was creating one of the most sustainable animal habitats in the world. The team recently learned it had succeeded when the exhibit became the first large-animal
The $1-billion first phase of the Southern Delivery System, one of the largest water projects to be built in Colorado in decades, is well under way and headed toward completion in 2016. The SDS will bring Arkansas River water stored in the Pueblo Reservoir, located west of the city of Pueblo, north to Colorado Springs by means of a 62-mile underground steel pipeline. That water will serve the cities of Colorado Springs, Fountain, Security and Pueblo West.More than 100 Colorado companies are already at work on the project, which is owned by Colorado Springs Utilities (CSU), and more than $100
A software system developed by two Denver-based managers at Kleinfelder Group Inc. is saving the city's Eagle P3 project time and money and enhancing the cutting-edge technology used on the $2.1-billion public-private partnership. The Eagle P3 commuter rail is a key component of the Regional Transportation District's (RTD) nearly $8-billion, 12-year FasTracks program to expand bus and rail service in the Denver area. The 36-mile project will provide the metro area with its first regional commuter rail lines, including long-awaited rail service from downtown Denver to Denver International Airport.Longtime collaborators Danny Bennett, a Kleinfelder project manager, and Kevin Zirlin, a
Cache Valley Electric Co.'s first major commercial project was the chemistry building at what is now Utah State University in Logan. That was in 1916. Today, the company has grown to be one of the largest electrical contractors in the West, and it's still working with the university.Long-term relationships are important to the Logan-based, family-owned firm, which has found success in using the latest in technology and also building and maintaining client ties the old-fashioned way.Because of its longevity, consistent service and steady leadership through the recent recession, ENR Mountain States has chosen Cache Valley Electric as the Intermountain Specialty
The new owner of Denver’s landmark Emerson School, the National Trust for Historic Preservation, kicked off the property’s $3.2-million sustainable renovation on Oct. 13. Courtesy of SLATERPAULL Architects The Emerson School, completed in 1885, is located at 1420 Ogden St. in Denver's Capitol Hill neighborhood. A major part of the project is the geothermal heating and cooling field being installed under the old elementary school’s rear parking lot. Colorado Geothermal Drilling recently started boring thirty 300-ft-deep holes for the geothermal and expects to finish in a week or so.“We want to demonstrate how to make an older building sustainable,” said
The developers of the SWAN Ranch mixed-use project in southeastern Wyoming knew from the start their odds of success were good because of the property’s prime location just south of Cheyenne. Then they got lucky. Courtesy of Anderson Mason Dale The new 27,000-sq-ft Wyoming Welcome Center, being built by Sampson Construction Inc., was designed by Denvers Anderson Mason Dale Architects to blend with its environment, including manmade landforms and tree lines. The 4,000-acre development, which contractors believe is currently the largest in the state, is situated near Interstates 25 and 80, and served by the Union Pacific and BNSF railroads.“As