Omaha Forums

Looks awesome thanks Coyote!

Will they spiffy up the land between the building and the river?

You mean the Railroad Tracks?

Yes, they need a polish.

MTO wrote:Yes, they need a polish.

Like an SOS pad or something...

Louie wrote:

MTO wrote:Yes, they need a polish.

Like an SOS pad or something...

I'm sure there's a machine, or an app for that.

I have a program called Tracks Eraser Pro that removes unwanted items. You might need the paid version for this project.

Thinking this one is going to be called "Breakers." Thats what the TIF request is under.

Looks like the apartments on the east are going to have a lot of rail noise and some crappy views.

bigredmed wrote:Looks like the apartments on the east are going to have a lot of rail noise and some crappy views.

You don't want the scenic views of Council Bluffs?

Linkin5 wrote:

bigredmed wrote:Looks like the apartments on the east are going to have a lot of rail noise and some crappy views.

You don't want the scenic views of Council Bluffs?

Even the most dedicated urban hipster is going to have a hard time wrapping their heads around living there.

Honestly, I think the back up power plant will be a bigger turn-off than the rail yard. Its not like tha's the mainline and there will still be plenty of river views if you are in the east side. I don't think all the people on the east side of riverfront place buy for the views of CB, they all talk about the river.

It will be a nice change of scenery for those units: trains, river, Kentucky and transients. I wish we could remove those tracks and do a full on river walk.

MTO wrote:It will be a nice change of scenery for those units: trains, river, Kentucky and transients. I wish we could remove those tracks and do a full on river walk.

It's going to have to be dealt with. The tracks were there long before anybody wanted to live in an abandoned power plant. Maybe they could remove a couple of tracks, but at least one is always going to be there.

MTO wrote:I wish we could remove those tracks and do a full on river walk.

That would essentially cut off all rail access to North Downtown/North Omaha.

If you go to any chamber event that takes about growth and industrial development, one of the biggest problems for our metro is the lack of rail served industrial areas. Removing these tracks would wipe out the largest rail served industrial area in our city.

Brad wrote:

MTO wrote:I wish we could remove those tracks and do a full on river walk.

That would essentially cut off all rail access to North Downtown/North Omaha.

If you go to any chamber event that takes about growth and industrial development, one of the biggest problems for our metro is the lack of rail served industrial areas. Removing these tracks would wipe out the largest rail served industrial area in our city.

Would it be possible to put some sort of covered landing over the tracks? I believe I saw something like this in the North Downtown master plan for behind the CenturyLink Center. Might not be feasible to do over the entire length of the riverfront, but could be an option for this place.

Or relocate the track or draw up a new industrial area outside of town.

That would take one heck of a reorganization for a city that made its name from the railroads.
The only thought about lessening traffic has more to do with energy efficiency, with OPPD shutting down three of its five coal furnaces by next year, and converting the remaining two units to gas by when... 2025?

To the best of my knowledge,

Canadian National Railroad has 3 Industries up there.
Union Pacific Railroad has a dozen plus the power plant
and to top if off, the tracks behind this development belong to the BNSF and the UP and CN Pay to use them.

These tracks serve a wide area, from the OWH Print facility on 13th and Capitol all the way north to the MUD water plant in Florence. Its also Carter Lake's only access to rail.

Rebuild that bridge just past freedom park.

MTO wrote:Rebuild that bridge just past freedom park.

Unfortunately they are in the process of getting the paperwork to tear it out...

Omaha, Carter Lake, and I think even the railroads have stated they want to keep it. However the coast guard had deemed it a "Navigation Hazard" and are pushing to remove it.

Brad wrote:

MTO wrote:Rebuild that bridge just past freedom park.

Unfortunately they are in the process of getting the paperwork to tear it out...

Omaha, Carter Lake, and I think even the railroads have stated they want to keep it. However the coast guard had deemed it a "Navigation Hazard" and are pushing to remove it.

What navigation? And how is it any more of a navigation hazard compared to the pedestrian bridge?

daveoma wrote:

Brad wrote:

MTO wrote:Rebuild that bridge just past freedom park.

Unfortunately they are in the process of getting the paperwork to tear it out...

Omaha, Carter Lake, and I think even the railroads have stated they want to keep it. However the coast guard had deemed it a "Navigation Hazard" and are pushing to remove it.

What navigation? And how is it any more of a navigation hazard compared to the pedestrian bridge?

I am not sure. I can only think of two things. One, it has no lights on it like all the other bridges in Omaha, and two its much lower than anything else around here.

Brad wrote:

daveoma wrote:

Brad wrote:

MTO wrote:Rebuild that bridge just past freedom park.

Unfortunately they are in the process of getting the paperwork to tear it out...

Omaha, Carter Lake, and I think even the railroads have stated they want to keep it. However the coast guard had deemed it a "Navigation Hazard" and are pushing to remove it.

What navigation? And how is it any more of a navigation hazard compared to the pedestrian bridge?

I am not sure. I can only think of two things. One, it has no lights on it like all the other bridges in Omaha, and two its much lower than anything else around here.

Can't you all see it is a navigation hazard to air traffic. All one has to do is look at the down aircraft in the river that is shown in the photo.

If there was ever a light rail that went into Council Bluffs, I would LOVE for it to cross this historic bridge.

daveoma wrote:If there was ever a light rail that went into Council Bluffs, I would LOVE for it to cross this historic bridge.

Now that would be cool. St Louis MetroLink uses the old tunnels in Downtown and uses the Eads bridge. Great use of existing infrastructure in that case.

So when's the protest to save the bridge?

daveoma wrote:If there was ever a light rail that went into Council Bluffs, I would LOVE for it to cross this historic bridge.

They could try to save the main structure then have it elevated to allow regular boat traffic under it, but I wouldn't stake my life on the structural integrity of it...

It would be cool to relocate the bridge sections to locations where navigation clearance is not an issue, such as a trail or commuter rail line over the Big Papio or its tributaries.
It seems unrealistic to think it could function as a swing bridge again over the Missouri with an active rail line or trail connection. The 60ft navigation clearance required on the Missouri River limits the functionality, unless the elevation and approaches of the existing bridge could be raised.

daveoma wrote:

Brad wrote:

MTO wrote:Rebuild that bridge just past freedom park.

Unfortunately they are in the process of getting the paperwork to tear it out...

Omaha, Carter Lake, and I think even the railroads have stated they want to keep it. However the coast guard had deemed it a "Navigation Hazard" and are pushing to remove it.

What navigation? And how is it any more of a navigation hazard compared to the pedestrian bridge?

there's still quite a lot of barge traffic on the missouri.

i've been up to that bridge a few times. it's accessible from some of the bike paths in the area. very old and very rusty. you can still see the huge old swivel joints, with ball bearings the size of basketballs, iirc

Repurpose it as the pedestrian bridge over the RR tracks from NDT to the Ped Bridge .

mattl181 wrote:

Brad wrote:

MTO wrote:I wish we could remove those tracks and do a full on river walk.

That would essentially cut off all rail access to North Downtown/North Omaha.

If you go to any chamber event that takes about growth and industrial development, one of the biggest problems for our metro is the lack of rail served industrial areas. Removing these tracks would wipe out the largest rail served industrial area in our city.

Would it be possible to put some sort of covered landing over the tracks? I believe I saw something like this in the North Downtown master plan for behind the CenturyLink Center. Might not be feasible to do over the entire length of the riverfront, but could be an option for this place.

This would be great idea. It wouldn't even need to be a monstrous job, just build elevated landings as riverfront developments are built. The railroad could be essentially covered by a riverfront deck all the way to Clink.

So could you build over these landings? That would be pretty cool.

HR Paperstacks wrote:So could you build over these landings? That would be pretty cool.

With the proper materials and foundations, I don't see why not.

Absolutely that could be done but is there the will to do so.

http://www.omaha.com/money/power-plant- ... b79b0.html

Wow, they are really gonna overhaul the site. A lot of the utilities-related stuff will remain. They'll probably dress it up a bit more.

Awesome project. Very few would take on this kind of challenge.

If this comes close to that, granted some of the landscaping plants will take time to mature, this will be awesome.

Railroad tracks separate NuStyle’s land from the Missouri. But city planners and Heistand said they envision improvements to allow the future bike and pedestrian path along the riverbank that would complete a trail from Bellevue in the south to NP Dodge Park in the north.

“It’s that whole back-to-the-riverfront concept,” Heistand said. “The bike path would be a big piece.”

I like this quote as well. I could envision a bridge over the railroad tracks, to a riverfront trail or, like was discussed above, a landing over the tracks to create green space/trails. What an ambitious project!