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 under a 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.