Principal Riverwalk

[vansicek]

That makes sense. Thanks Ingersoll

[DMRyan]

This new bridge is looking hot! The rusty trusses holding this thing up and faded John Deere green they used for the abuntments makes this look like some of those I-235 bridges they tore down years ago.

[greenfrog205]

this is so cool i can't wait

[Philby]

This may seem like a dumb question, but I'll ask it anyways. Has anyone noticed that the new pedestrian bridge does not look like the renderings at all? The latest renderings showed a huge arch as the main support. If you look at it right now it has large columns sticking into the air instead. Did I just miss something or what?

The columns are only there temporarily during construction...once the arches are in place the support columns will be removed because the arches will be the support.

[DMRyan]

They're really going to have to get cookin if they're still wanting to finish the bridge this year as they planned. For the love of Pete, I hope they deceide to use the federal money they received this year to officially build the riverwallk trail and promenade from the bridge to the Long Look Gardens on the eastside of the river. I'm in favor of putting the money towards making some improvements near Court Avenue too. All the bones will be in place, but I feel that this project is still a ways off from truly being tied together.

[DMRyan]

On the latest Des Moines City Council agenda, the City will be seeking a state grant to complete the next priority project on the riverwalk, the kiosk at Court Avenue Plaza. It also mentions the riverwalk project still needs another $15-$16 million for phase I to be complete. There has to be more of an effort to get this trails and promenades completed. The $3 or $4 million in federal funding the project receives every year is being accumulated way too slow to give this project the appearance of being complete.

Renderings courtesy of Substance Architecture:

[the1wags]

Cool to see the bridge construction going on. You slackers need to keep up with the photo updates though. Forgive my being to lazy to look, but when is this expected to be done. Next summer?

[dogbo]

This will be a nice addition to the riverwalk....

Biz Buzz: Lawyers shoot for Des Moines Riverwalk soapbox
LYNN HICKS & DAVID ELBERT • business@dmreg.com • September 16, 2008

That's the dream of the Iowa National Bar Association, a group of minority lawyers. The group is trying to raise $1 million to build a speakers platform on the downtown Riverwalk. The idea is the brainchild of Polk County District Judge Odell McGhee.

"We want to make Des Moines the Hyde Park of the United States," McGhee said, referring to the London park and its speakers corner. He envisions a gathering spot where anyone could stand up and express opinions, "even if the KKK wanted to go there ... anybody could go there to play a flute, debate, yell back and forth," he said.

This wouldn't be an average soapbox. The project would also be a memorial to the founders of the National Bar Association. The group, now based in Washington, D.C., was started in Des Moines in 1925 when the American Bar Association refused to admit African-American lawyers.

here's the link for the entire Register article: http://www.desmoinesregister.com/apps/p ... 9/BUSINESS

[QuadCityImages]

They had something similar at Western Illinois University, called the "Free Speech Circle," but that caused some people to write letters to the editor complaining that people were protesting OUTSIDE of the free speech circle... and they were serious. Despite the fact that I think it also would have been allowed, I never saw any KKK-type groups up there, or any flute playing.

It sounds like a neat idea. Have they said where on the Riverwalk it might go?

[DMRyan]

I think the article goes on to mention that this would go near the Federal Courthouse, so the east side of the river, between Walnut and Court.

[Ingersoll1978]

That makes sense. It would make for a great spot to create a plaza like this (remove the street in between the courthouse and the river?).

[hawk61401]

I never in my wildest dreams ever imagined that the Iowa National Bar Association would come up with an amazing idea for the riverwalk. This adds another dimension to the riverwalk and the potential is endless. It could be the favorite stop for politicians visiting Des Moines and soapbox for future caucuses.

Heck, it might even be a little bit of Sproul Plaza at UC Berkeley where all speech is welcomed.

[QuadCityImages]

Suddenly I miss college...

[DMRyan]

I had a chance to talk with the Engineer for this project today and found out a few things. The arch of the pedestrian bridge may not be installed until next year now due to steel fabrication issues. The next phase for construction may be the trails that connect the Center Street Pedestrian Bridge with Grand Avenue, with the riverfront kiosk building hopefully starting next summer. The project gets more expensive every year and an additional $16 million is needed just to complete phase I. She indicated that the Center Street Ped Bridge will be white instead of the silver or gray shown in many of the renderings. She mentioned that it, along with the new MLK Bridge is said to have pretty spectacular nighttime lighting as well.

[rasmeth]

This structure/restaurant/cafe part of the riverwalk/potential plaza will be an awesome function to have. I think Nollen Plaza could use a stand alone structure in it too and I'd even buy the gas for speeder's chainsaw if we could get a restaurant/cafe in the trees' place.

[DMRyan]

This public speaking/soapbox thing will not be used. I'd rather see a shiny piece of artwork memorializing the Iowa Bar Association instead of a public stage. Nollen Plaza and the footsteps of the capitol already are the public stages for Des Moines, and they're both located in much more visible or effective areas to reach the masses. Not to say that ped traffic along the riverwalk someday won't be busy, but there's just so much more near Nollen Plaza than this quiet location in front of a couple of government buildings.

[rasmeth]

I wasn't talking about a soap box/stage, if you thought that. I guess I read the thread wrong, but I thought there would be a plaza in front of the restaurant type place.

[DMRyan]

I was just replying to the original news of the this new soapbox proposed this week, not the pavilion comments you made Rasmeth.

[rasmeth]

Oh, okay.

[hawk61401]

Anybody know who the Indiana company is that's having problems with the detailing and welding?

'Postcard' Bridge Taking Shape
September 21, 2008--The Principal Riverwalk project continues to take shape along the Des Moines River downtown. But lately a lot of the attention is focused on the different shapes rising out of the river itself.

The company that built two of the three blue arch pedestrian bridges over Interstate 235 is building another. "This one is different. It's a lot bigger -- 400 feet long versus 270. It's a lot taller -- 90 feet instead of 70 feet, and being over the water," said Robert Cramer, co-president of Cramer & Associates, the company behind the project.

The giant suspension bridge over the Des Moines River will be the showpiece of the Principal Riverwalk, but it's already turning heads. "I had no idea they were putting in another pedestrian bridge down there," said downtown worker Jennifer Howard.

By next spring the skeleton of scrap steel will be replaced with an eye-catching, postcard-producing, come visit Des Moines-inspiring, piece of engineering excellence.

"It's kind of a steel arch going from one bank of the river to the other, then it's got cables on each side of that arch, coming down and holding up the two decks," Cramer said. "You can walk curving this way or walk curving that way, and in the center there's a glass walkway so you can walk over and see the water underneath."

The steel on the arch and bridge decks will be painted white and there will be extensive lighting for after sunset. But as unique as the design is, the most interesting part is -- how do you build a 400-foot bridge with no support in the middle? "The strength comes from the arch, so that big steel arch is going to have a lot of forces on it compressing together, and kind of pushes out on these giant concrete abutments," Cramer said.

Each concrete block contains over 1,000 cubic yards of concrete, but before the blocks hold the bridge up, four steel towers will have to do the job. Each tower is anchored eight feet into the slate on the river bottom, positioned to hold the giant pieces of bridge that will be attached to the towers before they are welded together. Tugboats will push two cranes floating on barges that will do the heavy lifting, then the towers will be removed and the bridge will be left behind.

"(You) have to take a 3-D model to even figure out where the piece go, so it's creating a lot of odd angles they're trying to weld together. So a lot of problems detailing it and a lot problems welding it together," Cramer said.

An Indiana company constructing the bridge is behind, so instead of a mid-November grand opening, completion has been pushed back to early next spring.

[wmjindsm]

I just wanted to credit the above story to WHO-TV

http://www.whotv.com/global/story.asp?s=9047307

[DMRyan]

If you get the chance, follow the whotv.com link posted above and watch the video for this project. It's the most detailed piece done on this bridge project so far. Interesting that the bridge will be painted white. It always looked silver or gray in earlier renderings.

[the1wags]

That's pretty cool. As a construction nerd, I find the process of building things like this very interesting. Our ped bridge linking Omaha and Council Bluffs opened last week, and people have been enjoying it a lot. I'm sure it will be the same when yours does too.

[SharpHawkeye]

I don't want to "hijack" this thread, but it is related to the project:

The Iowa Leadership Council, a pro-Republican 527 group is running attack ads here in eastern Iowa against Democrat state senators and representatives who voted for funding for the Principal Riverwalk project. In their ads, they focus on the Principal Riverwalk, D-Line Shuttle (they call it just "trolleys") and a downtown beautification project as "pork-barrel spending".

I can't find any of the ads I've seen on YouTube, or I would post them here. Also, I can't type fast enough to give you a full transcript but the ads always end with a variation of the line "Tax increases for you...flowerpots for Des Moines".

[QuadCityImages]

One of them is for current Davenport city council member and state Senate candidate Shawn Hamerlinck, who I could write 10+ pages entailing his conflicting statements. I'll spare you guys that. If he wins the election (probably doubtful this particular year with that "Rep" after his name on the ballot), we're rid of him from the city council, yet he'll be causing trouble at the state level instead. Either way we both win and lose, I suppose.

[hawk61401]

The ILC advertises themselves as not being affiliated with any candidate or political party. In the link below they attack McKinley Bailey of District 9 for his support of the Riverwalk. The ILC doesn't have any suggestions about how Des Moines and Iowa should rebuild, attract and retain new and young residents and jobs. Instead, let's attack those who want to do positive things for Des Moines and Iowa.

http://www.truthaboutmckinleybailey.com/default.aspx

[Better Life dude]

Almost every day I drive across the Grand Ave bridge downtown and look to my right - wondering if today's the day when construction on the Center Street pedestrian bridge will start up again. Does anyone know what's up with this bridge? The steel construction supports are so ugly, they'll make the eventual bridge seem that much cooler.

[Better Life dude]

I found some information perhaps not yet posted in it's entirety: It was mentioned in an earlier post that there is Federal stimulus money for the Riverwalk trail from Vine Street to Court Ave. That funding is $873,235. In addition, the state DOT has also decided to award $1,653,000 of the federal stimulus to the Riverwalk trail from Walnut to Grand on the west bank.

That would mean what's left for the Riverwalk trail to be funded/completed would be 1)from the new MLK Jr. Parkway bridge to Vine Street; 2)Court Ave to Walnut Street; 3) from north of the new Hansen Triangle park to the new Center Street pedestrian bridge. So roughly about half of the remaining distance of the Riverwalk trail could be completed this year. Slowly but surely, the trail will all get connected!

As a general note: including the above $2.5 million for the Riverwalk trail, over $12 million of federal stimulus will be spent throughout Iowa on trails.
Details on "Transportation Enhancement" (aka Trails) to be found at this Iowa DOT link: http://www.iowadot.gov/recovery/enhancements.htm

[GoVerticalDSM]

Does anyone know the date when they will restart work on the bridge spanning the river by WFA?

[DMRyan]

I'm surprised the workers haven't started back on this bridge yet, but it must still have something to do with the difficulties in fabricating the steel for the arch.

Sounds like the west side of the riverwalk will be blazing with construction later this year or next year with the ped bridge, river kiosk and now a significant majority of the trails. Slowly (very slowly) chipping away at what's needed to get the riverwalk project completed.