I was not able to attend the June Transportation Commission meeting, however I did sit in on C-DOT’s Transit Task Force as well as the RTD Board meeting. Below are reports of those two meetings.
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C-DOT’ s Transit Task Force held its third meeting of six on June 13 and continued developing criteria to be used to evaluate transit projects that can now be funded by Colorado as the result of Referendum C.
C-DOT’s Director of Financial Services, Heather Copp, officially announced that $21.8 million will be available for projects this year beginning in December. The funding available to C-DOT for transit drops to zero in 2010 as Referendum C concludes.
Committee members heard requests for the continued funding of the Front Range Express (commuter bus between Colorado Springs and Denver) once federal money for the program ends. A request was also made from the US36 Transportation Management Organization for $3.2 million to aid in the construction of a bus rapid transit station at the Table Mesa Park ‘n Ride, a facility not funded by FasTracks. Rob McDonald, Executive Director of the Pikes Peak Regional Council of Governments, objected to the requirement of a 20% local or federal match as a criteria for funding which had been suggested by several members of the committee at a previous meeting. No such match is required for highway projects he stated.
The committee then turned its attention to suggested guidelines as to how to allocate the available funding. There was considerable support for spending a portion of the money for transit studies just as long as the studies had some reasonable prospect of actually resulting in funded projects. One committee member suggested that money pay for a state-wide transit plan, but C-DOT Policy and Governmental Liaison Director, Jennifer Webster, cautioned that the legislature might be of a mind to remove SB 1 transit funds if they were to see projects that were not well defined, not well understood, or had no visible use. Task force chairman, Steve Parker who represents SW Colorado on the Transportation Commission, agreed adding, “We had a $30 billion plan (for highways) that never went anywhere. There is no use doing a statewide plan of anything when there is no money for it.”
Will Toor, Boulder County commissioner and member of the task force, thought a certain limited amount should be spent on studies and suggested that the group should support the idea that C-DOT be a stronger advocate for transit than they have been in the past.
The committee tentatively concluded that 3% to 5% of the available funding be allocated to studies with 20% dedicated to the purchase of rolling stock (transit vehicles). The remaining 75% would be spent on “Legacy Projects,” projects that have been proposed in the past and are visible improvements to transit systems.
Specific projects will be considered in the meeting next month..
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RTD continues to rapidly move forward on its FasTracks planning. In its Board meeting held on June 20, directors gave their approval for the selection of the Denver Transit Construction Group (DTCG), a partnership of Herzog Contracting Corp. and Stacy and Witbeck, Inc., for pre-construction services for the 12 mile West Corridor Light Rail Line. DTCG was chosen over teams lead by the Kiewit Company who is chief contractor for T-REX highway and light rail projects and PCL Construction who built RTD’s Southwest and Platte Valley Light Rail Lines.
Because of the escalating cost of construction materials, RTD has decided to re-evaluate some of its plans for the West Corridor. They hope to save $22 million by relocating the line to the south side of US6 west of the station at the Federal Center rather than digging a long tunnel to the north side of the highway at the Simms/Union interchange. The line would cross to the north side of US6 on a bridge just west of the Red Rocks Community College Station. Other cost saving measures include removal of pedestrian bridges at the Red Rocks College Station and the Jefferson County Governmental Center, termination of the line on the east side of the Jeffco Center, and reduction of peak hour service between the Federal Center and the Jeffco Center.
Most of the public comment thus far has been supportive of the changes with the exception of the elimination of the pedestrian bridge connecting the Red Rocks College Station with the neighborhood along the north side of US6. Many neighborhood residents object to not only the loss of a transit station on their side of the highway but also access to it via a pedestrian bridge.
The Board endorsed the separation of RTD’s and C-DOT’s Environmental Impact Study on the 24 mile East I-70 Corridor and approved an expansion of its contract with the consulting firm PBS&J for completion of the EIS and advanced basic engineering. The separation was made necessary by RTD’s ability to go ahead with construction design plans because they have the money in hand to build the line whereas C-DOT has no prospects for funding the highway portion of the corridor at this time. Last month the Board approved the selection of the consulting firm URS to perform the EIS and basic engineering design for the 18 mile North Metro Line.
The Board also approved funding for construction of the US36/Church Road Park ‘n Ride, an agreement with the City of Lakewood for Federal Congestion Management and Air Quality funds for transit-oriented development (TOD) planning for the West Corridor’s Wadsworth Ave. Station, and an expansion of FasTrack’s office space at the Denver Post Building.
RTD has established the schedule for the opening of the Southeast Corridor Light Rail Line beginning Friday, November 17. Following a ceremony for the general public, RTD will provide free rides on the 19 mile line beginning at 11AM. Free service will continue that day until midnight. On Saturday, free rides on all light rail lines will be available from 6AM to midnight; however, free service will not be available on Sunday because of the impact the Bronco game that day is expected to have on the demand for light rail services.
The Board agreed to the arranging of public meetings to review changes in bus scheduling that are mostly related to the initiation of service on the SE Corridor. Bus routing changes will be made at the Alameda, Louisiana/Pearl, University, Colorado, Village Center at Arapahoe, and Dry Creek Stations.
RTD continues to review maintenance center locations for future rail and bus services. Dir. Bill Christopher (Westminster) summarized the report on behalf of the Board’s FasTracks Monitoring Committee. The Union Pacific’s 36th Ave. yard and BNSF Railway’s 31st Ave yard are under consideration for a commuter rail maintenance facility. Sites north and south of UP’s Burnham Yard are being studied for a new light rail maintenance facility, and two locations are being looked at for two new bus maintenance facilities. The new light rail facility will provide service to 100 light rail vehicles and the two bus facilities will handle 250 buses each.
RTD General Manager Cal Marsella and six Board members attended the recent American Public Transit (APTA) Rail Conference in New York. While there Mr. Marsella toured NJ Transit’s North Bergen light rail line where he observed numerous examples of TOD stimulated by the line. Mr. Marsella and some of the other Board members took a behind the scenes tour of Grand Central Station. All spoke of their enthusiasm for what they saw and how it serves as an inspiring model for the redevelopment of Denver Union Station.
Mr. Marsella mentioned that the APTA meetings covered sharing corridors with freight railroads, liability insurance coverage issues, and commuter rail vehicle choices. (RTD is considering both electric multiple unit as well as diesel multiple unit technology for the three FasTracks commuter rail corridors.)
RTD Board Chairman Chris Martinez (NE Denver) mentioned that Mr. Marsella and RTD are featured in the current issue of Mass Transit Magazine.
Jon Esty ColoRail ### ________________________________________________________________________