RTD staff recommends rail to Church Ranch, bus rapid transit to Boulder, Longmont

(John Prieto, Denver Post file photo)

Calling it the most reasonable and cost-effective option for rapid transit along the northwest corridor, Regional Transportation District staff on Monday recommended running commuter rail north to Church Ranch Boulevard in Westminster and a bus transit system the rest of the way to Longmont.

The new plan relies on a 0.4 percent sales tax increase for the metro-wide FasTracks rapid-transit system - not yet approved by the RTD board of directors - that could go on the November ballot and raise about $160 million a year.

Reaction from area officials who attended the Monday meeting of RTD's FasTracks Monitoring Committee was strong and unified: promises were made.

"Everyone is seemingly getting their stuff except us," Rep. Matt Jones, D-Louisville, told the board. "We can get rail by 2042? I'll be 98 years old."

Said Superior Trustee Debra Williams: "RTD does not have the right to usurp the voters and create a division in the northwest corridor."

The new rail and bus system would be completed by 2022.

Rail would be extended by about six miles on a line already is being built to Westminster. It leaves open a number of extensions, to be built in segments as funding allows, that eventually could extend to Longmont.

The RTD board is set to decide March 20 what to do with the northwest corridor. Its choice must be approved by the Denver Regional Council of Governments before RTD can put a tax increase before voters.

Voters initially approved a 0.4 percent sales tax in 2004 to fund FasTracks, with the guarantee of several commuter-rail lines to be finished by 2014, an estimate that later adjusted to 2020. Support was strong in Boulder County, where 64 percent of voters approved FasTracks. Voters in Broomfield and Weld counties also approved the plan.

Originally posted here:
RTD staff recommends rail to Church Ranch, bus rapid transit to Boulder, Longmont