Golden – Interest in the west light-rail line – the first of six to be built under the Regional Transportation District’s $4.7 billion FasTracks plan – nearly swamped planners at a Thursday night open house.
With final design work beginning, more than 300 people crowded into an exhibit hall at the Jefferson County Fairgrounds to comment and to volunteer for committees that will recommend what various features of the 12.1-mile line should look like.
“Final design will reach 100 percent by the first quarter of 2008,” said Dennis Cole, the west line’s project manager. “Driving the project are budget and schedule.”
West-line construction is scheduled to begin in late 2008, with completion by 2013. The line will travel from downtown Denver to Golden along West 13th Avenue, south to the Denver Federal Center and then parallel to the north side of West Sixth Avenue.
Cole urged attendees to sign up for one of four urban design committees that will look at elements such as stations, fencing, entry plaza, shelters, walls, bridges and windscreens and make recommendations to the engineering design team by July.
The committees will suggest textures, colors and details of the 11 new stations. A second open house with detailed designs is planned in September.
On Thursday, a bank of laptop computers saw heavy use from people who entered their ideas.
“This is the first that RTD has used these laptops, which send comments directly into a database,” said Beth Ordonez, whose company is consulting on the project.
“We’re a house divided,” Fran Yehle said of her positive and her husband’s negative views on the west line. Living just three doors away from the corridor, Yehle urged strong collaboration among RTD, consultants, Lakewood and the community.
Jerry and Jean Lamb, who live near West 13th Avenue and Dudley Street, also had divergent opinions.
“I wanted to know about noise mitigation,” Jerry Lamb said. “We took a test drive on light rail down to Mineral Avenue and it was nice and quiet.”
Jean Lamb isn’t happy with the prospect of having the trains pass close to their home.
“It’s coming through – tough,” she said of RTD’s approach.
Jose Espinoza and his mother, JoAnn, operate D&V Towing on West 14th Avenue and wanted to know about the line’s alignment as it leaves the Auraria campus.
“We just don’t want to be stuck not knowing what’s going on,” Jose Espinoza said.
The line is expected to cost about $593 million. Last week, it was announced that $35 million has been approved in next year’s Federal Transit Administration budget for the west line, the first of an expected $285 million from the federal government for the corridor.
Staff writer Ann Schrader can be reached at 303-278-3217 or aschrader@denverpost.com.
