About 75 percent of those attending RTD’s first public meeting on the future of FasTracks said Thursday they are either very supportive or somewhat supportive of RTD raising more money — possibly with a tax increase — to construct the entire project by 2017.
The Regional Transportation District is about $2 billion short of what it needs to complete the transit expansion project by 2017, the date promised to metro Denver voters in 2004.
Over the next month, RTD is holding 16 meetings throughout the area to gauge public reaction to a number of FasTracks options, including a possible sales-tax increase for the project or alternatives that call for RTD to build what it can with existing funds.
At the public meetings, agency officials are polling attendees instantaneously on their preferences for the various options using small electronic, hand-held devices.
About 100 people attended the first meeting at RTD’s Denver headquarters.
RTD officials said this week they would consider going back to voters for a sales tax increase of between 0.2 to 0.3 percentage points — 2 to 3 cents on each $10 purchase — to fully construct FasTracks by 2017.
In 2004, voters approved a tax increase of 4 cents on $10 for the transit expansion. The 2004 vote boosted RTD’s total sales tax to 1 percent.
Last month, RTD said the cost of building all of FasTracks by 2017 had jumped to $7.9 billion, about $2 billion more than what the agency expects to have for the project without an infusion of new money.
Officials blame the increase largely on the soaring price of construction materials and higher-than-expected costs for acquiring land for key rail lines.
Bill Leake, of Evergreen, and William Tracy, of Denver, attended Thursday’s midday meeting and both were surprised at the strength of support among those present for considering a possible tax hike.
In the straw poll, Leake backed the tax-increase option while Tracy did not.
“If Denver is going to be a viable city, it has to have good mass transit,” Leake said. “Otherwise it is going to marginalize itself.”
At the public meetings this month and next, RTD also is weighing public reaction to options that could be taken if no significant amount of new money can be raised for the project.
These include building the Northwest, North Metro and I-225 FasTracks rail lines shorter than planned, by 2017, and possibly extending them to their original destinations by 2034.
The Northwest train originally was planned to go to Boulder/Longmont from Union Station, but a shortened version might end temporarily in Westminster or Broomfield.
The North Metro line from Union Station was to go to 162nd Avenue in north Adams County, but a curtailed version might end at 88th Avenue or 112th Avenue.
The I-225 line was to extend light rail in Aurora from the current Nine Mile station at Parker Road to the Aurora City Center area and the Fitzsimons medical complex before ending at Peoria Street and Smith Road, tying in with the DIA train. RTD now is looking at a possible temporary end for the line in Aurora City Center.
On Thursday, those participating in the straw poll were least enthusiastic about the option of using available FasTracks money — if no new funds are raised — to build only one line among the Northwest, North Metro and I-225 by 2017 and let the others die. Seventy-one percent said they were “very unsupportive” of such a proposal and another 15 percent said they were somewhat unsupportive.
Tracy favored options calling for RTD to build the Northwest, North Metro and I-225 lines as far as it can by 2017 and extending them further later as money becomes available.
Leake agreed that is a good alternative if the extra money cannot be found to complete the entire project by 2017. “That way, everybody gets something,” he said.
For a full list of FasTracks meetings, go to
Jeffrey Leib: 303-954-1645 or jleib@denverpost.com
