For decades during the 20th Century, people rode trains to move about Denver. With the advent of the automobile, public transportation fell out of favor. Now, a renewed interest in trains and commuting has contributed to the completion of the RTD FasTracks 12-mile West Rail Line connecting Golden to downtown Denver’s Union Station - providing transportation options and improvements while reducing traffic congestion and air pollution.

Design-Build Done RightSwinerton Builders led a design-build team to deliver the Wadsworth Parking Structure in Lakewood, Colorado, for Regional Transportation District (RTD). The structure provides more than 1,000 spaces for light rail and bus commuters who make an estimated 20,000 trips weekly on the newly opened West Rail Line (WRL). This parking structure manifests the benefits of design-build done right as it addresses the varying needs and desires for both the client – RTD, and the local municipality – Lakewood, for performance and purpose. By applying DBIA partnering principles, the project sets new standards enabling parking structures to be free of utilitarian aesthetics while increasing safety for users. The construction of this parking structure played a small but vital part in the greater development of FasTracks – Denver’s plan for regional transportation that raises the bar for future transit plans across the country while fostering localized transit orientated development. And all of these accomplishments were built with an unprecedented 32% Disadvantaged Business Participation from the local subcontracting community - doubling RTD’s goal of 16%.

Creating the Framework for the Future The four-story parking structure is located on nearly five acres in an established area of Lakewood that is undergoing transition. As a project influencer, the City of Lakewood desired to capitalize on these changes and establish this parking structure and surrounding area into a gateway for the community by including a ground-level space for retailers serving commuters and plazas for community gatherings. As our client, RTD required a straightforward, aesthetically attractive and cost effective structure with high performance characteristics.

By engaging a design-build team early in the process, both RTD and Lakewood were able to achieve their goals through this one project. Swinerton and design partner Gensler merged the requirements of RTD with the desires of Lakewood in creating the framework for future development and amenities, including increased floor-to-floor height of the first level to accommodate future retail, installing conduit for future car charging stations, and structural adaptations for future roof-mounted PV installation. The structural system accounts for a potential future fifth level as well. Swinerton accomplished RTD’s goal of a 50-year building with a cast-in-place concrete structure which is typically more durable and requires less maintenance than other types of construction due to monolithic construction, fewer joints to maintain and design flexibility for openness and safety.

Swinerton Delivers Design-Build Done Rightfor RTD and the Community

“The construction of the structure and site improvements reflected high quality and attention to detail. Overall, Lakewood is pleased with the result of the collaboration between the City, RTD and the Swinerton team.”

~ Roger Wadnal, Manager Comprehensive Planning and Research Division; and

Paul Rice, Principal Planner; City of Lakewood

“As an architect, it’s rare to see the final building look like the original rendering. In this case, our rendering looks just like the actual building. This does not happen without partnering.”

~ Scott Wightman, Gensler

Partnering Makes the Project Possible To ensure this design-build effort was done right, the attitude of partnering and collaboration permeated from proposal to punch list. In design charrettes we evaluated the most functional floor plan to meet RTD’s requirements and Lakewood’s goal for future development. The design-build approach enabled the entire team to realize common goals in a feasible manner. Commitment to quality construction and design integrity did not waiver.

Getting More for LessIn RTD’s requirement for a cost efficient structure, Swinerton analyzed traffic patterns to ensure the safest and most efficient layout was instituted. The facility is built for one-way traffic and 70-degree diagonal parking stalls in the exterior bays. This layout reduced the overall garage width by 11 feet, and overall gross square footage by 23,726 square feet, without compromising operational capability or safety – thus contributing to a lower cost structure. Our solution was $500,000 less expensive than other options yet provided more parking and a safer environment than RTD originally programmed.

To maximize the value of RTD’s initial expenditure of a highly efficient facility with long serviceable life, we specified a concrete mix to meet 5,000 psi with 20 percent fly ash and 8 percent ultra fine fly ash. These amounts maintain high performance and met the 50-year design requirement.

Additionally RTD benefited from our evaluation of the best value comparing cast-in-place concrete to precast, taking into consideration schedule, maintainability, durability, safety and requirement for openness. In the end, cast-in-place provided flexible options and considerations for safety while meeting the purpose of this parking structure. Specifically, a pivot point in the façade along Wadsworth addresses both form and function concerns while providing more parking spaces than originally planned. This pivot point provides pedestrian access to the garage from the 10,000-square-foot plaza and is defined by atypical parking garage construction materials – glass curtain wall, stainless steel tensioned metal mesh, perforated metal panels, concealed fastener metal panels and colored acid-etched architectural precast.

Placement of these materials breaks up the long public side of the building (an element common to many rectangular parking garages) while providing a structure constructed for maintainability, durability and safety.

BIM Targets Constructability Swinerton modeled the architectural and structural elements to assure the right blend of these materials and their assemblage. Three-dimensional modeling assisted in meeting schedule and cost expectations while checking for proper head heights throughout the garage and within stairwells.

While parking structures are not LEED certifiable, this project contains several sustainable items, such as: low water-use landscaping, storm water quality, bicycle parking, provisions for future solar panels, electric car charging stations, on-site recycling and storage on site of construction materials and forms that would be reused for the next RTD parking structure which Swinerton started soon after this project began.

Safety for all Surroundings Swinerton’s safety plan encompassed much more than activities on site. Our work touched a major thoroughfare of Lakewood that is controlled by CDOT, so site-specific safety plans took into consideration adjacent traffic concerns, standards and equipment.

RTD recognized Swinerton’s superintendent and assistant superintendent as “Most Cooperative Partners” during construction of the parking structure.

Swinerton employed a dedicated safety manager exclusively for this project. This individual hosted jobsite orientations, contributed to all pre-construction, owner, and subcontractor meetings, and spent much of his time on site observing construction practices, correcting and aiding in safe practice ideas. All subcontractors completed daily Job/Task Hazard Analysis prior to all construction activities in order to consider their surroundings as well as plan and think each step through properly.

Flooding Doesn’t Stop Progress As we were in the early stages of site excavation, a water main across the street from the site broke at 3 A.M. Before it was noticed by the local municipality, water flowed across 7-lane-wide Wadsworth Boulevard and pooled in an area we recently excavated for a new turn lane. The water also filled our 6-foot deep detention pond and flooded an area of existing asphalt paving that was scheduled for demolition and new pavement. Water seeped through the asphalt, saturating the underlying soil. It took three days to pump the water from our site.

Once the water was gone from this area, we discovered the subgrade remained over saturated and would not compact, showing signs of “pumping.” This poor subgrade condition could not support new paving until the soil improved. Due to the well established partnering attitude in place, the design-build team worked with RTD, Colorado Department of Transportation (CDOT) and Lakewood officials to engineer a solution that considered both time and cost impacts – adding a mix of 8-12% fly ash to the subgrade – to mitigate the flood damage to everyone’s satisfaction. After we met soil compaction requirements, we successfully placed new asphalt before the threatening weather turned unfavorable for asphalt pouring and avoided a significant project delay.

Contributing to the Greater Good The design-build team drew from RTD’s vision of making Denver a world-class transit metro area for architectural context while enriching design concepts, material usage and safety features from previous RTD projects. WRL is the thread that connects the western suburbs to urban downtown, while the parking structure provides a vibrant gateway to Lakewood. Design and construction satisfied RTD’s requirement for a functional parking structure and surpassed disadvantaged business participation goals, and yet considered Lakewood’s desire for this undertaking to become a center of community engagement. As great as a job we think we did, the best measurements of a project’s success are the unsolicited accolades that flow in during and after project completion.

Delivering PartnershipsWhile the requirements of RTD may appear straight-forward, integrating the initiatives of Lakewood into this project could only happen within a design-build approach where partnering remained paramount. The Swinerton team was fortunate to successfully integrate this parking structure into a vast community-changing undertaking – one that hopes to encourage people to return to a simpler time of commuting by train.

“This was one of the largest projects we have done. There was a lot of paperwork and documentation, and Swinerton was very attentive and helpful. Cash flow is critical to a small business, and Swinerton always paid on time.”

~ Mari Fountaine, PresidentFDG Products (S/D/M/WBE certified)

Metal panel/exterior cladding

“Recently, I noticed a couple guys with brooms and wheel barrows cleaning the perimeter of the 14th and Wadsworth parking garage site. Keeping the site neat and tidy is important to the neighborhood and well appreciated. Please pass along our thanks to your team for doing this.”

~ Jerry GoldmanWest Corridor Ombudsman

City of Lakewood