RTD officials on Tuesday night offered another possible option for dealing with the new $1.8 billion escalation in the cost of FasTracks — initially start some rail lines with only rush-hour service.
Likely targets for such a solution, if adopted by RTD directors, would be the planned Northwest train to Boulder/ Longmont, the North Metro train to Thornton/Northglenn and the Interstate 225 light-rail line in Aurora.
Twelve days ago, the Regional Transportation District revealed that the cost of building six new rail lines and three rail extensions had ballooned to $7.9 billion from last year’s estimate of $6.1 billion.
At that time, RTD officials said they needed to find the extra $1.8 billion if the entire FasTracks project is to be built by 2017, as promised when metro voters approved the project in 2004.
An alternative, officials said then, would be to save costs by reducing the length and scope of some lines initially, with the hope that they could be fully built out by 2034.
On Tuesday, agency officials presented board members the new option of constructing all the new lines to planned destinations but possibly building single-track operations initially that would offer “scaled-
back service” only at peak travel periods on select lines.
Officials have said that the West Corridor light-rail line to Golden, now under construction, the East Corridor line to DIA and the Gold Line to Arvada/Wheat Ridge must be built as originally planned because they are in position to get at least $1.3 billion in federal money — funds that would be lost if the lines are cut.
That leaves the Boulder/ Longmont, Thornton/Northglenn and I-225 lines as vulnerable to cuts in either length or service.
“Other options are necessary, something that is more equitable,” said Gene Putman, Thornton’s transportation chief, on Tuesday night.
For a month beginning Sept. 24, RTD will hold 15 meetings throughout the area to take public comment about which alternative is best.
RTD’s board is expected to select an option for resolving the project’s financial difficulties in early November.
Also at Tuesday’s meeting, officials identified four additional sites for a possible new RTD bus maintenance facility: Fox Street and West 48th Avenue; Washington Street and East 51st Avenue; Emerson Street and East 51st Avenue; and Washington Street and East 54th Avenue.
A fifth site still under consideration housed the former Denver Post printing plant on the southwest corner of the MousetrapI-25/I-70 junction, but its price tag may be too much for RTD, officials said.
Jeffrey Leib: 303-954-1645
