Single light-rail cars could one day run like streetcars between Civic Center and the 40th Street/40th Avenue commuter rail station on the DIA train line.
Earlier this year, officials said they would consider streetcar service between the Airtrain station near the National Western complex and the intersection of Broadway and the 16th Street mall.
Now transit planners say single light-rail cars might be able to efficiently and safely mimic streetcar service by operating in the street, sharing lanes with automobiles.
Buying a fleet of streetcars could add unnecessary costs to the task of linking the 40th Street station with Civic Center, said Mike Turner, the Regional Transportation District’s manager on the DIA train project.
RTD’s $4.7 billion FasTracks plan originally called for light-rail service from the 40th Street station to the existing light-rail terminus at 30th and Downing streets in Denver’s Five Points community.
Yet running two tracks dedicated to light rail between 40th and 30th would force RTD to take homes on the west side of Downing. That prompted planners to consider streetcars.
On Monday, Turner said a study of the DIA train will continue to examine pros and cons of operating either streetcars or single light-rail cars on Downing, Welton Street, Broadway and Lincoln Street.
Planners are expected to reject the more intrusive light-rail option.
The DIA train study is considering yet another wrinkle.
Planners have been looking at two routes for the airport rail line at the large bend in Peña Boulevard near Tower Road.
One would largely hug Peña, with a single station somewhere between 64th Avenue and Peña’s junction with Tower.
On this route, a commute between Denver International Airport and Union Station would take about 30 minutes.
The other route would depart the Peña corridor just south of 56th Avenue and jog east primarily to serve the High Point commercial and residential development east of Tower.
That diversion, however, could add $60 million to the price tag of the DIA train and at least three minutes to the trip, Turner said.
So planners are examining a third option.
It would run parallel to Peña Boulevard and then begin to head east at 72nd Avenue, just south of the bend in the airport highway.
This route would serve High Point with a rail station near 72nd and Himalaya Road before bridging over Peña Boulevard, Turner said.
It also would have a station near 64th and Peña, yet planners are hoping the route would not add to the DIA line’s $702 million budgeted cost.
“If we can make it work,” Turner said, “everybody would be happy.”
Staff writer Jeffrey Leib can be reached at 303-954-1645 or at jleib@denverpost.com.
