Transit planners say RTD might be forced to take up to 90 homes by eminent domain for an alternate routing of FasTracks’ Gold Line if talks with freight railroads fail to settle on a shared alignment for commuter rail.
The Regional Transportation District had planned to run Gold Line light-rail trains to Arvada and Wheat Ridge in a freight-rail corridor. But the Union Pacific Railroad Co. said light-rail cars cannot operate safely next to its freight trains.
Now, RTD is assessing the option of running light-rail trains or streetcars on neighborhood streets from Union Station to Ward Road.
Switching the route to local streets such as West 38th Avenue, Lowell Boulevard, West 52nd Avenue, Ralston Road and Ridge Road would require the taking of many more homes and businesses than putting trains in the freight corridor, said Don Ulrich, vice president of CH2M Hill, an engineering firm that is studying Gold Line transit options. Running light rail down local streets could require taking up to 90 homes throughout the entire Gold Line right of way.
Ulrich estimated that 35 homes would have to be taken in the Ridge Road corridor from Ward Road to Arvada’s Olde Town area if RTD has to run light rail adjacent and parallel to the existing freight-rail line.
There would be “quite extensive property takings of homes along Ridge,” said Jonathan Spencer, another CH2M Hill planner on the Gold Line project.
But operating light-rail trains along Lowell Boulevard between West 38th and West 52nd avenues would offer the advantage of serving Regis University, said Tim Baldwin, another transit planner on the Gold Line study team.
Baldwin called the in-street light-rail or streetcar alternative “our just-in-case option” if RTD is blocked from operating trains in the freight-rail corridor.
Commuter rail cars are heavier than light-rail vehicles and meet federal crash test standards, so the railroads say they can safely operate in fairly close proximity to freight trains.
But talks between RTD and Union Pacific and BNSF Railway have not yet produced an agreement on freight trains and commuter rail sharing the Gold Line or other FasTracks corridors.
RTD has budgeted $464 million for the 11.2-mile Gold Line. Running light rail down local roads might exceed that budget because it would require taking so many homes and businesses, officials said. Operating a streetcar in the same alignment could solve the budget problem, since such vehicles share lanes with automobiles and would not require the taking of many homes.
A streetcar line costs about $26 million a mile, Ulrich said, so if RTD were to shift to the trolley, the Gold Line could be built for about $285 million.
Some local officials expressed concerns about the extra time it could take to travel the route using light rail or streetcars on local streets.
Ulrich said preliminary reviews show the on-street light-rail or streetcar option would take about 35 minutes for the trip compared with about 31 minutes for a train operating in the freight corridor.
RTD will continue to study the option of operating heavier commuter rail in the freight corridor, said Liz Telford, RTD’s manager on the Gold Line study.
Gold Line planners expect to select a preferred train technology and routing for the line by early next year. The train line is scheduled for completion in 2015.
Arvada City Councilman John Malito said residents in his community have assumed for years that the Gold Line would operate as light rail in the freight corridor.
“Our voters voted for light rail,” Malito said. “We just have to convince them and ourselves” that commuter rail is a good alternative.
Electrified commuter rail “is a viable concept,” said Arvada City Councilwoman Lorraine Anderson, “and would give us shorter times to downtown.”
Staff writer Jeffrey Leib can be reached at 303-954-1645 or jleib@denverpost.com.
Public meetings
RTD will hold public meetings on the various Gold Line transit options Wednesday and Thursday, from 6 to 8:30 p.m. Wednesday’s meeting is at the Arvada Center, 6901 Wadsworth Blvd., and the following night, it is at the Highlands Masonic Temple, 3550 Federal Blvd. in Denver.
For more information, go to rtdgoldline.com.
