RTD is weighing the possible early opening of the southeast corridor light-rail line, now being built as part of the T-REX project.
On Thursday, general manager Cal Marsella confirmed that the Regional Transportation District may accelerate the planned opening of the $880 million, 19-mile train line. Current plans call for it to open for paying customers in December 2006.
RTD is expected to decide by the end of this year whether T-REX trains could start hauling passengers earlier than planned.
Even if the opening is advanced by a month or a matter of weeks, it could be a public-relations coup for RTD. The agency has said all its rail lines have opened on time and within budget.
The southeast line is RTD’s most ambitious rail project to date, and an early opening would give the agency momentum as it embarks on the $4.9 billion FasTracks transit expansion plan.
FasTracks calls for construction of at least six new major train lines in the next 12 years, as well as extensions to existing rail routes and an increase in bus service.
Construction on T-REX, which stands for Transportation Expansion Project, is about 91 percent complete. In addition to building 19 miles of rail, contractors are finishing a $795 million expansion of Interstates 25 and 225 in the same corridors. T-REX construction began in 2001.
The southern portion of the project’s highway expansion, from the I-225/I-25 junction to County Line Road, is largely complete, as is expansion of I-225 from the junction to South Parker Road.
Workers still must erect pedestrian bridges over I-25 to serve train stations at Orchard Road, Dry Creek Road and Lincoln Avenue, at the southern terminus of the train line.
A considerable amount of highway work still needs to be done in the I-225-to- Broadway segment of T-REX, including completion of the East Hampden Avenue, South Colorado Boulevard and South University Boulevard interchanges, said project spokeswoman Toni Gatzen.
The Hampden interchange should be completed by spring and the Colorado and University interchanges by summer, Gatzen said.
Contractors also have to finish on- and off-ramps in the Narrows portion of I-25, from Steele Street to Broadway, and they have to complete construction of I-25’s northbound lanes in that area. The Narrows work is due for completion in August.
All work must be completed by Sept. 1, according to the contract.
Staff writer Jeffrey Leib can be reached at 303-820-1645 or jleib@denverpost.com.
