Federal transportation officials Tuesday said RTD’s west light-rail line is one of only two transit projects in the country eligible for a special category of federal funding because of the projects’ advanced engineering and design.
Transportation Secretary Mary Peters and Federal Transit Administration chief James Simpson said the Regional Transportation District will get $40 million in FTA “new starts” money for the west train in the fiscal year that starts in October.
It will be the first installment of an expected $290 million in federal funding for the train, which will be the first of six new rail lines built as part of RTD’s $4.7 billion FasTracks plan.
The west train will run for 12.1 miles from downtown Denver to Lakewood and Golden in the West 13th Avenue and U.S. 6 corridors.
The west line is expected to cost a total of $574 million, which includes $52 million in finance charges. It is due to open in 2013.
The only other transit line named to win FTA funding as “pending” projects with advanced engineering and design already completed was a light-rail project in Portland, Ore., which will get $80 million in the coming year.
Faced with soaring costs of construction materials, RTD has been looking for ways to cut costs on west rail construction. The agency has altered bridge designs, moved the alignment to the south side of U.S. 6 for a portion of the route and considered eliminating some stations.
FTA officials on Tuesday said “RTD has demonstrated the capacity to plan, design and complete technically complex major capital projects.”
But the federal agency added that it continued to monitor “RTD’s proposed cost-containment efforts” for the west train and the effect they could have on ridership and the line’s success.
Of the actions by transit agencies around the country to cut costs in the face of rising construction prices, Simpson offered a cautionary note: “How many ingredients can you take off the pizza before it’s not a pizza?”
Peters and Simpson also announced about $864 million in funding for 11 existing or completed transit projects, including RTD’s southeast train, which was built as part of the T-REX project.
RTD is due to get its final $79 million from the FTA for the southeast train in the upcoming fiscal year.
In all, the federal government will pay $525 million of the roughly $880 million total cost of the southeast line.
Transit projects around the country at lesser stages of design and development also won money from the FTA.
Staff writer Jeffrey Leib can be reached at 303-954-1645 or jleib@denverpost.com.
