Boston Marathon Day

While there isn't much going on with construction on this rainy day, it is Patriot's Day in Boston, which means the running of the Boston Marathon.

The Marathon does travel down Boylston street, which is the street in the upper part of the picture. (Unfortunately it is mostly hidden by the canvas) If you're watching live, you can see the heads of the runners every once in a while. (If you looked close enough earlier in the day, you might have seen Robert Cheruiyot run by first, with a finish time of 2:14:13) Makes you wonder what the Apple Store will do on Marathon Day, as it could be one of the best places to watch the runners go by with the front glass structure looking right out onto the street.

The Finish Line is about two blocks to the left of this picture.

More coverage of today's big event at http://www.boston.com/sports/marathon/.

The Big Guns Arrive

Construction of the Apple store took a giant leap with the arrival on Monday of a heavy-duty crane and pile-driving equipment to sink supports for the future three-story store. The equipment from G. Donaldson Construction Company includes the crane, three containers of equipment, what appears to be a giant steam boiler for a piledriver, and a drilling rig. As you'll recall, the store site is built on fill material that requires some specific foundation requirements. Over the next weeks we'll be able to see (but not hear) the heavy foundation work that will eventually lead to steel I-beams going up. [glossary] [timelapse: Monday / Tuesday]

Fundamental Foundation

Work on the foundation of the new store continues. They've brought in gravel to create a street-level platform for the excavator, which continues to groom the bottom level and work on the side walls. At drilling rig was brought in to bore holes in the middle of the right side. And shortly after that, what looks to be structural steel and two wooden crates arrived. While there's been periods of sun and warm temperatures, at other times in the time lapse (4:35 p.m.) you can see snow flurries. [I just caught up creating the time lapse movies, which are named aprxx.mov, where xx is the day of the month, 1-30.]