WESTMINSTER — Officials are starting to gauge whether a tax increase to fund a hybrid system of transportation along the northwest corridor from Denver to Longmont will pass in November.
But at least one longtime transit activist said such a measure is likely to fail, at least in Longmont.
“Unless they come up with more concrete numbers and assurances for a certain date this will all get completed, I don’t hold out much hope it will succeed up here,” said Mary Blue, a former member of the Longmont City Council and the Regional Transportation District board.
“I haven’t done any scientific polling,” Blue said, “but we’re pretty unhappy up here.”
Residents of Longmont and other northern-metro communities became critical of the transit plan in December when new cost estimates for the 41-mile stretch of planned commuter-train lines jumped from $894 million to $1.7 billion.
The increase was prompted mostly from the cost of sharing rail lines with Burlington Northern Santa Fe, which owns the right of way that RTD must use.
RTD planners scrapped a full rail-line plan for one that calls for the completion of a 12-mile commuter-rail line from Denver to Church Ranch Boulevard, with completion anticipated between 2020 and 2022.
The 6 miles from Denver to Westminster have already been funded, while the other half of the line to Church Ranch would cost $350 million to $450 million.
The proposal also calls for the rest of the rail line to Longmont to be built in phases as money becomes available. Meanwhile, bus rapid transit would cover the rest of the corridor up to Longmont by 2020.
The plan hinges on voters approving the doubling of a 0.4-percent sales tax in November.
Tom Clark, chief executive of the Metro Denver Economic Development Corp., said his group has formed focus groups along the U.S. 36 corridor to find out if a tax increase would fly. The results of the focus-group meetings have yet to be tallied, Clark said.
The RTD board hasn’t decided if it wants to pursue an election this year. The Denver Regional Council of Governments is scheduled to review the RTD plan in June.
