Officials with RTD are hoping that the Obama administration and the new Congress will promote an economic-stimulus plan including at least $1 billion that could allow construction of the train to DIA and other FasTracks projects to begin early next year.
The Regional Transportation District has been counting on getting that amount of money from the Federal Transit Administration for construction of the DIA train and the Gold Line train to Arvada/Wheat Ridge.
The two lines, along with other FasTracks elements, are part of a proposed public-private partnership that RTD hopes also will bring $1 billion in private capital to the DIA train/Gold Line project.
Up to now, RTD had predicted it might take until late 2010 to get the FTA to act on the funding request.
But in a letter last week to House Transportation Committee chairman James Oberstar, D-Minn., RTD general manager Cal Marsella said if “RTD were to receive funding as part of the proposed new economic stimulus package,” the transit agency could “leverage” it with the private capital “to assure that this critical transportation infrastructure project for the region could proceed into construction early in 2009.”
In its request to Oberstar, RTD listed other critical projects that could benefit from stimulus funding, including at least $230 million for development of Denver Union Station as the hub for FasTracks.
Recession in the United States, coupled with a global economic slowdown dragging down China and other formerly fast-growing economies, could keep commodity prices low for a time and benefit U.S. infrastructure projects promoted as part of a new economic-stimulus package, said Wachovia Corp. chief economist Mark Vitner at a transportation finance conference held last week in Broomfield.
Jeffrey Leib, The Denver Post
