Cranes Loom Over DIA During Hotel Construction
DENVER (CBS4)- Construction cranes loom over the terminal at Denver International Airport during hotel construction and the south terminal redevelopment.
In addition to the hotel crews will build a public transit center which will connect a heavy commuter rail terminal at DIA to downtown Denver.
"The first level that the train will come in on is being formed now," said Redevelopment Program Manager Stu Williams.
The project is just a little more than a year into the five-year construction process. Visitors are noticing some new features starting to take shape.
"We're literally starting to go vertical," said Williams. "On the top of the transit center is a 519 room transit hotel. We want to be at the eighth level by the end of this year."
Crews are putting steel structures into place now. Those beams will eventually support the Westin Hotel as well as a large public plaza and a train platform.
Over the next few months travelers going to and from DIA will see more iconic canopies.
"The bridges on the west terminal are almost complete. We'll be able to reopen those in June," said Williams.
Project managers said they're right on track to open the hotel by Fall 2015 with trains operating by 2016.
"The first part of winter was really dry so we were able to make good progress. The recent snowstorm has slowed us down but not stopped us," said Williams.
The detours put in place around the DIA terminal are preparing for departure.
"In the middle of the summer when we open the west bridges a lot of the detours will go away," said Williams.
The expansion is expected to bring more than 1,000 jobs to the Denver region.
