Construction Update 11/19/2010

Winter weather has definitely come to Green Bay and just in time for deer hunting season.  I don't deer hunt but judging by the lack of activity at the job site today I'm guessing many of the workers building the Zippin Pippin roller coaster are hunters.  Although not many workers were on site significant progress has been made since last week's update.  Here is the latest...

The big news this week is the turn 2 structure is starting to go up.  If you recall from previous posts the foundation work showed how complicated the first part of this turn was going to be, you can now see everything going on in this area by checking out the pictures below.

From a distance and looking northwest it looks like this, note there are now three flags being flown at the top of the structure, the newest flag is the City of Green Bay flag.

From Zippin Pippin Construction

As you get closer you can see how the out and back enters and exits the first part of turn 2.

From Zippin Pippin Construction

Above this area is the structure the idler pulley will be attached to, since last week they've added a platform underneath it.

From Zippin Pippin Construction

Out in zone 3 the foundation work is nearly complete, the footings now are all the way out to the out and back turn around with about one half of the turn completed.

From Zippin Pippin Construction

From Zippin Pippin Construction

From the furthest point of the out and back you can get a good sense of the total scale of the roller coaster.

From Zippin Pippin Construction

Where the out and back lanes split to start the turn around is another relatively complicated area of the foundation.

From Zippin Pippin Construction

Looking east you can still get a good shot of the entire standing structure.

From Zippin Pippin Construction

Looking north it's a little more difficult to capture the entire structure, I attempted to stitch two pictures together to capture the entire structure looking north.

From Zippin Pippin Construction

From further out in the parking lot the entire structure fits in one picture but the construction trailers obscure the view.

From Zippin Pippin Construction

At the top of the first drop the track now extends beyond the structure.

From Zippin Pippin Construction

I like this picture of the top of the lift hill, as the layers of track appeared to be peeled away.

From Zippin Pippin Construction

The first drop is patiently waiting to be joined to the lift hill, turn 2 will join these two elements. From this angle you can see how much remains of turn 2 before the lift hill and first drop will be joined together.

From Zippin Pippin Construction

The track for the drop after turn 3 has made a lot of progress since last week...

From Zippin Pippin Construction

...along with this uphill right after the drop which heads to the out and back.

From Zippin Pippin Construction

Tomorrow is the Green Bay holiday parade, one of the floats in the parade will feature a simulated Zippin Pippin track along with a couple of the actual cars from the ride. Green Bay's mayor Jim Schmitt will be riding this float, the video below is a story about it.