Omaha Forums

HR Paperstacks wrote:

MTO wrote:The more and more we talk about the Heartland of America Park, ConAgra campus and Ozarko area as one comprehensive project the more I realize the freeway bridge must go.

Well even if they took out the freeway, there would still have to be a bridge between DTO and CB.

Tunnel! Start going underground behind the Civic and keep going down under the Missouri River. Not quite sure where it would come up in CB. All the land under the bridges becomes developable, or open space, and you get a pedestrian friendly area, plus you get rid of the I-480 wall between North Downtown and the CBD. Infrastructure doesn't last forever, and someday the elevated roadway and bridge will need replacing, so why not a tunnel.

A tunnel is a perfect solution if the exorbitant cost is ignored. See Boston's Big Dig.

RNcyanide wrote:A tunnel is a perfect solution if the exorbitant cost is ignored. See Boston's Big Dig.

Boston's big dig wasn't an issue with it being a tunnel. There are hundreds of other tunnel projects that have been done on time and on budget - you're picking the worse case scenario. That's like saying don't build the Bob Kerry Bridge because the Tacoma Narrows Bridge (a suspension bridge too) swayed and collapsed.

Spatial77 wrote:

HR Paperstacks wrote:

MTO wrote:The more and more we talk about the Heartland of America Park, ConAgra campus and Ozarko area as one comprehensive project the more I realize the freeway bridge must go.

Well even if they took out the freeway, there would still have to be a bridge between DTO and CB.

Tunnel! Start going underground behind the Civic and keep going down under the Missouri River. Not quite sure where it would come up in CB. All the land under the bridges becomes developable, or open space, and you get a pedestrian friendly area, plus you get rid of the I-480 wall between North Downtown and the CBD. Infrastructure doesn't last forever, and someday the elevated roadway and bridge will need replacing, so why not a tunnel.

Not saying this would kill the idea, but Omaha's putting in a CSO tunnel 70 feet below the riverfront already (the South Interceptor Force Main) from Heartland of America past ConAgra. With bedrock below the riverfront at 40 feet deep, you'd most likely have to dig under the CSO tunnel

Further, this tunnel - if replacing the interstate - would need to be similar to the Alaska Way Viaduct project, which is 2 miles long, four lanes and billed at $4.2 billion. If you went from Civic to the River Park Broadmoor apartments on the riverfront in CB, you're looking at like ~1.2 miles.

Omaha doesn't have enough money to upkeep the roads we have, let along construct a $4 billion tunnel. Especially when you look at the latest bridge over the Missouri - US 34, which was billed at $115 million and holds the same 2 lanes in each direction.

I don't know about a Children's Museum though.
I mean they're already making the Durham into Omaha's new children's museum.

Seriously the last 15 traveling exhibits they've had are aimed at kids. I miss the old ones like the Lincoln one and Terrorism in America.
Maybe the kid ones are more popular? I don't know.

I just happened to see this on Craigslist

https://omaha.craigslist.org/bfs/5581307597.html

Omaha_corn_burner wrote:I just happened to see this on Craigslist

https://omaha.craigslist.org/bfs/5581307597.html

Storz really flopped trying to make a comeback

choke wrote:Storz really flopped trying to make a comeback

The people who bought Storz name flopped and dragged the name down with them...

There is a ferris wheel in town for the cws; how hard would it be to make one a permanent fixture on the river front, albeit one thats a bit larger?

thenewguy wrote:There is a ferris wheel in town for the cws; how hard would it be to make one a permanent fixture on the river front, albeit one thats a bit larger?

It would need to be part of a cohesive district of some sort to draw people. People wouldn't go down just for the ferris wheel. I think the best option would actually be in Council Bluffs, or as some part of HoA Park.

Garrett wrote:

thenewguy wrote:There is a ferris wheel in town for the cws; how hard would it be to make one a permanent fixture on the river front, albeit one thats a bit larger?

It would need to be part of a cohesive district of some sort to draw people. People wouldn't go down just for the ferris wheel. I think the best option would actually be in Council Bluffs, or as some part of HoA Park.

They showed it on the big screen tonight and not a soul was on it.

Next year they can try Tilt-a-Whirl. That'll be the ticket!

Someone told me the wheel's lights are cool looking at night but one of the BK's masts is dark. If that's true they need to fire somebody!

iamjacobm wrote:

Garrett wrote:

thenewguy wrote:There is a ferris wheel in town for the cws; how hard would it be to make one a permanent fixture on the river front, albeit one thats a bit larger?

It would need to be part of a cohesive district of some sort to draw people. People wouldn't go down just for the ferris wheel. I think the best option would actually be in Council Bluffs, or as some part of HoA Park.

They showed it on the big screen tonight and not a soul was on it.

Unsurprising. Like I said, the the Ferris wheel itself can't be the draw. It's more of an "eh, why not" kind of things unless it's the London Eye or maybe the one at Navy Pier. Otherwise, it'd be like building a store the exclusively sells things you can only find near the checkout at the grocery store.

iamjacobm wrote:

Garrett wrote:

thenewguy wrote:There is a ferris wheel in town for the cws; how hard would it be to make one a permanent fixture on the river front, albeit one thats a bit larger?

It would need to be part of a cohesive district of some sort to draw people. People wouldn't go down just for the ferris wheel. I think the best option would actually be in Council Bluffs, or as some part of HoA Park.

They showed it on the big screen tonight and not a soul was on it.

As Brad previously mentioned, the placement if horrible. It should be out closer to 10th St.

skinzfan23 wrote:

iamjacobm wrote:

Garrett wrote:

thenewguy wrote:There is a ferris wheel in town for the cws; how hard would it be to make one a permanent fixture on the river front, albeit one thats a bit larger?

It would need to be part of a cohesive district of some sort to draw people. People wouldn't go down just for the ferris wheel. I think the best option would actually be in Council Bluffs, or as some part of HoA Park.

They showed it on the big screen tonight and not a soul was on it.

As Brad previously mentioned, the placement if horrible. It should be out closer to 10th St.

Lets see if MECA even brings this wheel back for year two before anyone gets too excited about a permanent wheel on the river... I still think it might do OK year one, but would start hemorrhaging money by year two...

City Council to take next step in demolishing Storz Trophy Room building

http://www.omaha.com/news/metro/city-co ... b12bd.html

Christopher Burbach / World-Herald staff writer wrote:The Omaha City Council will consider a contract Tuesday to hire a demolition company to wreck the former home of Rick’s Cafe Boatyard and the Storz Trophy Room.

The contract would pay low bidder Anderson Excavating $139,000 to demolish the building by July 30.

The contract would pay low bidder Anderson Excavating $139,000 to demolish the building by July 30.

That is going to happen quickly

Good riddance. Does anyone know what the results were of that informal poll of what people would like to see along the riverfront?

NEDodger wrote:Good riddance. Does anyone know what the results were of that informal poll of what people would like to see along the riverfront?

When biking along the river on the Iowa side, one thing that stands out to me is the lack of trees on the Omaha side. Walking or biking from Heartland Park to the pedestrian bridge would be much more inviting with a nice tree-lined trail.

Omaha1000 wrote:

NEDodger wrote:Good riddance. Does anyone know what the results were of that informal poll of what people would like to see along the riverfront?

When biking along the river on the Iowa side, one thing that stands out to me is the lack of trees on the Omaha side. Walking or biking from Heartland Park to the pedestrian bridge would be much more inviting with a nice tree-lined trail.

Lead burrito underneath means no trees. The city is going to have a challenge in filling that spot. It's ruined.

choke wrote:

Omaha1000 wrote:

NEDodger wrote:Good riddance. Does anyone know what the results were of that informal poll of what people would like to see along the riverfront?

When biking along the river on the Iowa side, one thing that stands out to me is the lack of trees on the Omaha side. Walking or biking from Heartland Park to the pedestrian bridge would be much more inviting with a nice tree-lined trail.

Lead burrito underneath means no trees. The city is going to have a challenge in filling that spot. It's ruined.

I'm sorry to learn that. It's pretty frustrating that our city leaders allowed the central riverfront area to remain contaminated.

Omaha1000 wrote:

choke wrote:

Omaha1000 wrote:

NEDodger wrote:Good riddance. Does anyone know what the results were of that informal poll of what people would like to see along the riverfront?

When biking along the river on the Iowa side, one thing that stands out to me is the lack of trees on the Omaha side. Walking or biking from Heartland Park to the pedestrian bridge would be much more inviting with a nice tree-lined trail.

Lead burrito underneath means no trees. The city is going to have a challenge in filling that spot. It's ruined.

I'm sorry to learn that. It's pretty frustrating that our city leaders allowed the central riverfront area to remain contaminated.

Don't know if this happens in my lifetime but I predict the city will go back to this site and clean it up properly after several failed attempts of trying to stimulate the area. CB is doing it right on their side and Omaha city officials know it. Omaha is in a real pickle with this one.

How deep below the river would they have to go to get the lead out?

bigredmed wrote:How deep below the river would they have to go to get the lead out?

I'm not 100 percent positive on this, but I think it's correct....

Depends on what is going in. The concrete areas around the riverfront basically were cleaned to a point. The concrete is typically a barrier that allows people to build on top of it, but there would need to be additional cleanup if you dug deeper. How far? Depends.

In places that are grass or other permeable surfaces, it's typically 12 inches deep. This being the actual plant location, the depth may be significantly deeper - I'm not sure. However, the rest of the area is basically airborne transferal, so it's within the top foot of soil typically (almost always within two feet) - and then capped with fresh soil.

When they built the baseball stadium and Century Link, they cleaned the top 12 inches and placed 2-3 feet of clean soil on top. Mitigation for the baseball field was included in the $1.7 million "site preparation" cost and was about $1 million for the Qwest. If you're putting condos, apartments or homes (places people live) on top of it, you either need to mitigate further down or not allow residences on the first floor.

I don't think it's prohibitive that it's eventually all cleaned up, but there are a bunch of other factors that also make this area less likely to be developed than just on the other side of the CenturyLink.

bigredmed wrote:How deep below the river would they have to go to get the lead out?

They would have to do a series of soil borings and tests to determine the actual depth of the soil contamination at the former Asarco plant building sites. Plus now, the cost of removing the "remedial" containment cap, paving, etc. would have to be factored in also.

GetUrban wrote:

bigredmed wrote:How deep below the river would they have to go to get the lead out?

They would have to do a series of soil borings and tests to determine the actual depth of the soil contamination at the former Asarco plant building sites. Plus now, the cost of removing the "remedial" containment cap, paving, etc. would have to be factored in also.

I was going to say, that I bet they are looking at serious depth. When ConAgra was building and the Heartland of America park lake was dug, they had to go 8 feet deeper than expected to get the lead cleaned up. Dad was down there in ConAgra and watching the earth get moved.

I would not be at all surprised that they would have to go down to and below the level of the river to get clean soil.

The lead won't naturally go away in our lifetimes, right?

Omaha_corn_burner wrote:The lead won't naturally go away in our lifetimes, right?

No, it's not like a radioactive material, with the radioactivity decaying over time.

Newton's first law of motion would apply: a body at rest remains at rest and a body in motion remains in uniform motion in a straight line unless acted upon by an external force.

About the only way it would disappear on its own is if there was a huge flood on the river that scoured the area away.

The upper plaza is at approx. 990' elevation with the river at approx. 970'. So I would guess the depth of the lead contamination would depend on how deep it leached into the ground over the 100 + years Asarco and other refining operations were there.

GetUrban wrote:About the only way it would disappear on its own is if there was a huge flood on the river that scoured the area away.

Well let's hope a huge flood hits us soon so we can get moving in this area

GetUrban wrote:

Omaha_corn_burner wrote:The lead won't naturally go away in our lifetimes, right?

Newton's first law of motion would apply: a body at rest remains at rest and a body in motion remains in uniform motion in a straight line unless acted upon by an external force.

I was thinking that Murphy's Law would also apply...

HR Paperstacks wrote:

GetUrban wrote:About the only way it would disappear on its own is if there was a huge flood on the river that scoured the area away.

Well let's hope a huge flood hits us soon so we can get moving in this area

We missed our chance in 2011 !....but there should be another 1000 year flood coming before too long.

Omaha1000 wrote:

GetUrban wrote:

Omaha_corn_burner wrote:The lead won't naturally go away in our lifetimes, right?

Newton's first law of motion would apply: a body at rest remains at rest and a body in motion remains in uniform motion in a straight line unless acted upon by an external force.

I was thinking that Murphy's Law would also apply...

That is a given!

The MO floods to the east in that stretch of the river now that the Omaha side has built up. It flooded that part of Omaha in 1952 to a significant depth. Dad recalls taking an Army Duck from 15th street in downtown Omaha to the steps of the Methodist church in downtown CB to go help on sandbag lines.

In 2011, the river scoured the river bottom along Sioux City to a depth of 65 feet. I wonder if it did any undermining of the Omaha side? Keep in mind that in addition to the 2011 flood, we had the flood in the mid 90s that was supposedly a 500 year flood. Maybe the river did a little lead abatement for us?

Christopher Burbach / World-Herald staff writer wrote:The contract would pay low bidder Anderson Excavating $139,000 to demolish the building by July 30.

Anyone have an update date, here is a photo from July 30th.

Demolition starts Sept 12th.

OmahaOmaha wrote:Demolition starts Sept 12th.

Thanks, I thought the 8 day time frame of the 30th seemed rather aggressive...

Stothert expects to request proposals for Storz Trophy Room site soon after restaurant is razed

The former Storz Trophy Room is set to come down soon, but Mayor Jean Stothert doesn’t want the area to sit empty for long.

She said she expects to issue a request for proposals for the site after the building’s demolition.

Even with restrictions, Stothert said she hopes to have something started by next summer.

“We’re not going to leave it blank down there for a long time,”

Glad to see that they are pursuing an alternate use. Hopefully they have more than one proposal this time.

OFD was using it for some training today.

Demo well underway. Excited for the RFP to be released.