FasTracks
FasTracks is a multibillion-dollar public transportation expansion plan under construction in metropolitan Denver, Colorado, United States.
[1] Originally envisioned to cost $4.7 billion and to be completed in 2017, voters in the eight counties that comprise the RTD approved a 0.4 percent sales tax increase in 2004.
The project was allowed to begin when the sales tax portion of its funding was approved by Denver metro area voters in November 2004.
The municipal governments of Denver, Boulder, and Lakewood had launched detailed studies of community redevelopment possibilities around station locations.
The cities of Westminster, Thornton, Aurora, Greenwood Village, Englewood, Sheridan, and Arvada are also planning transit oriented development areas around some of their proposed rail stations.
[6] On April 13, 2010, the RTD board of directors decided to postpone asking voters to further increase the current sales tax.
After receiving four bids, RTD selected the partnership of Graham Contracting Ltd., Balfour Beatty Rail Inc. and Harmon Contractors Inc. (GBBH), the same group that had submitted the unsolicited proposal.
Denver Transit Partners, the consortium of companies RTD selected to lead the Eagle P3 project, is responsible for the design, construction, financing, operation and maintenance of the rail lines in the contract.
In August 2011, Secretary of Transportation Ray LaHood committed $1 billion in federal money to the Eagle P3 project.
As with the East Corridor, the RTD Board of Directors chose EMU commuter trains to run on the Gold Line.
The North Metro Corridor is a commuter rail line that runs along an existing railroad right-of-way from Denver to 160th Avenue in Thornton.
In 2009, RTD paid $117 million to purchase the right-of-way from Union Pacific in preparation for the buildout of the North Metro line.
[16] The announcement angered many voters in the cities and suburbs north of Denver who had approved a sales tax increase in 2004 to fund the FasTracks project.
[16][19] In summer 2018, the U.S. 36 Mayors and Commissioners Coalition was gathering support from other members to ask RTD to provide an estimate for at least weekday rush hour commuter rail service along the original corridor to Longmont.
The 12.1 mile light rail line was opened to the public on April 26, 2013, and is the first completed segment of the FasTracks regional transit-expansion plan.
This is an 18-mile (29 km) long express bus line, branded "Flatiron Flyer", running along US 36 between Denver and Boulder, Colorado with six stops planned along the route.
A joint project between CDOT and RTD, the road was widened by 40 feet in each direction to allow the addition of a high-occupancy vehicle lane instead of the trains voters approved.
According to RTD (2012),[24] when new development occurs near stations, it increases the likelihood that residents and workers will choose transit as their transportation mode.
RTD has conducted a Quality of Life (QoL) study for the neighborhoods' impacted by FasTracks with baseline data collection starting in 2006 and continuing bi-annually to the present.
As of 2015, FasTracks has on order 66 Hyundai Rotem Silverliner V electric multiple unit rail cars operated in a married pair configuration.
These cars were initially developed by Rotem for Philadelphia's SEPTA Regional Rail in 2009, with RTD's order coming a year later in 2010.
In 2009, the Colorado Rail Passenger Association, a local rail transportation advocacy group, filed a lawsuit against the Federal Transportation Administration for its acceptance of DUSPA's Environmental Impact Statement, which suspiciously omitted several impactful statements and comments that were contributed by the members of the community.
[33] The completion of this original plan has been delayed until 2044 due to lower tax revenues and higher costs than expected.
