Regional Transportation District planners are taking another look at moving the proposed alignment for the Air Train, which will link downtown Denver to Denver International Airport.
It would cost an additional $60 million to move the line south and east from the course initially looked at along Peña Boulevard and Tower Road.
Aurora officials and developers are asking to move the line through the High Point development near East 68th Avenue and Tower Road, RTD staffers told the district’s Planning and Development Committee on Monday.
General Manager Cal Marsella is holding off on a staff recommendation until funding alternatives are sought out to make up for the added cost.
Marsella said he expects the recommendation to come down in the next 60 to 90 days.
“There is a significant cost impact, but we’re going to continue to take a look at that and funding opportunities,” he told the committee.
High Point’s developers and the city of Aurora have lobbied for a rail station in the project, which would be a major selling point as a convention center goes up in the development.
“It is a substantial development,” Mac Callison, Aurora’s principal transportation planner, told the committee. “We appreciate the sincere effort being made to better serve this area.”
The train line will be built as part of the RTD’s FasTracks expansion.
Construction of the 24-mile line is to start in 2011 and be finished by the end of 2014.
The capital cost for the project – if the rail line sticks to the original course along Peña and Tower – is $702.1 million.
The costs would jump to $762 million if the project is moved.
Marsella said the needed funding for a new route could come from Aurora, and High Point’s developers also could be asked to contribute to move the line through their development.
Thus far, no one has come forward and helped with the cost, he said.
In other business, RTD’s planning committee agreed to recommend that the board of directors set aside $150,000 to start a parking-management system at a 540-space parking garage opening next month near the University of Denver.
The plan would save space for RTD customers by preventing DU students from using the garage’s free parking.
The board of directors will hear the committee’s recommendations at its next meeting Oct. 17, Marsella said.
Staff writer Manny Gonzales can be reached at 303-954-1537 or mgonzales@denverpost.com.
