Residents of neighborhoods north of downtown Denver expressed strong preference Thursday night that RTD build a commuter rail maintenance center on industrial land near West 48th Avenue and Fox Street rather than on a site near 31st Street and Brighton Boulevard that has been under consideration for about a year.
Regional Transportation District officials say the agency might be able to save as much as $100 million by putting the center on Fox Street because it would not require moving RTD’s bus repair and storage operation, which is on 31st Street.
At a public meeting Thursday night, Sunnyside neighborhood resident Eugene Howard said he wondered “why we’re having this conversation” given the economic problems RTD is facing with its FasTracks transit expansion program.
With one site for the maintenance center offering the opportunity to save $100 million, it seems like the question of which site to choose is “answering itself,” Howard said.
