Colorado’s Big Transportation Plan Makes Transit A Lower Priority — And RTD
Gets Nothing | Colorado Public Radio
Colorado’s Big Transportation Plan Makes Transit A Lower Priority — And RTD
Gets Nothing
By Andrew Kenney and Nathaniel MinorApril 12, 2021SHARE:
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Hart Van Denburg/CPR NewsRTD’s Central Park Station had few riders early
Thursday morning April 9, 2020.
When Angie Rivera-Malpiede heard Gov. Jared Polis say that the state had no
intention of giving the Regional Transportation District any guaranteed new
funding, she had two thoughts.
“I was surprised,” said Rivera-Malpiede, chair of the RTD board. “Well, maybe I
wasn't so surprised.”
Polis has been publicly upset with RTD since at least 2012 over delays on its
FasTracks rail expansion plan. Then, as congressman from the state’s second
district, he demanded that RTD stay committed to its planned commuter rail line
to Boulder and Longmont.
Now, as the Democratic-controlled legislature prepares to tackle transportation
funding, Polis told CPR’s Colorado Matters last week his displeasure with RTD
is one reason why they’re being left out of a proposed $4 billion package.
“I, and many others at the state level, are not always happy with everything
RTD does,” Polis said. “So we’re certainly not about to give them money, but
the state absolutely supports local transit.”
The proposal, which sponsors say will be formally introduced in the coming
weeks, includes roughly $700 million in multimodal spending over the next 10
years. That’s about 16 percent of the nearly $4 billion that the bill would
provide, with the rest going toward roads and driving, including electric
vehicles.
Some of that transit money is reserved for:
- The Colorado Department of Transportation’s fledgling inter-city bus
network.
- A long-term plan for Front Range passenger rail that could benefit RTD.
- Infrastructure improvements like bus stations at interstate overpasses.
- And local transit service across the state.
It's possible RTD could receive some of that local transit money, said Rep.
Matt Gray, D-Broomfield, a co-sponsor of the coming bill. He described the bill
language as "agnostic" to RTD.
But with no direct new funding for RTD, it's unclear how much the bill will do
to address the transit needs of the state’s largest metro area.
“I can't make someone like us,” Rivera-Malpiede said of the governor’s public
statements about the transit authority. “I just have to keep working.”
The Boulder train is the 35-mile gorilla in the room.
After public pressure from Polis, RTD will restart its planning later this year
for a stripped-down 35-mile extension of the B Line to Boulder and Longmont,
which currently ends in Westminster. Early estimates put costs at $700 million
and ridership at 800 every weekday, though those could change with additional
study.
Those economics are difficult, Polis acknowledged in an address to the RTD
board in February. But he said RTD still had an obligation to build the line.
“I don't think anybody would make this deal today,” Polis said. “But that
doesn't matter. The voters have been paying taxes for this project now since
2005.”
With An Eye On Federal Money, RTD To Restart Planning For Boulder And Longmont
Train
A Polis-appointed member of the independent RTD accountability committee
disagrees with the governor. Rutt Bridges, a wealthy software developer, argued
at a recent meeting that no version of the project — its full buildout, a
bare-bones line, or a collaboration with a possible Front Range rail line — was
feasible. Bridges is a former board member of Colorado Public Radio.
His analysis, for example, suggested that a full buildout, at an estimated $1.6
billion, would result in a required subsidy of $29 per passenger per ride.
Instead, he suggested a network of bus rapid transit lines in the northwest
region.
“There’s a really great opportunity for these BRT lines to not just do what the
[B Line] would have done, but to really surpass the promises of [the B Line],”
he said.
A handful of RTD board members have been critical of the B Line, but a majority
still support it and other unfinished FasTracks projects.
Myriad plans call for more transit, but sustained funding is unclear.
RTD has already received at least $430 million from the first two federal
stimulus packages and will receive more from the $1.9 trillion bill passed in
March. Federal guidelines say those one-time payments are to be spent on
preserving service and the agency’s vast workforce of drivers, mechanics and
other key personnel.
President Joe Biden’s $2 trillion infrastructure proposal includes $85 billion
for public transit over eight years, a huge increase over current funding
levels. The package faces a tough road in the closely divided Senate, but
Rivera-Malpiede said the Biden administration’s clear desire to boost public
transportation gives her hope.
“I think that we are in a new place for transit,” she said.
RTD is still facing an uncertain financial future, partially because of huge
debt burdens from its decade-plus push to expand rail. That’s even as various
climate and transportation plans for the state and region anticipate transit
taking a larger role in a region where vehicle travel dominates.
The RTD accountability committee, which Polis helped create, is drafting a
statement on the need for more state funding for transit, including RTD.
“We need to invest in solutions that reduce climate emissions and reduce air
pollution. And transit is part of the solution,” Elise Jones, co-chair of the
accountability committee, said at a recent meeting.
The Denver area's planning organization, DRCOG, has set long-term goals to
reduce greenhouse gas emissions, travel delays and cut the use of
single-occupancy vehicles, along with slashing overall miles traveled.
It found that urban-centric development and a heavy investment in rail and bus
transit — more lines, more frequent service, and free fares — may be the only
way to achieve that.
The city of Denver and the state’s climate roadmap both call for an increase in
transit service. A group of advocacy organizations has called for an increase
of $1 billion in transit and other multi-modal spending every year across the
state.
What does the transit spending plan look like if RTD isn’t included?
The town of Castle Rock is a good example. It’s the most southerly major
outpost in the Denver metro. It’s a 30-mile drive from downtown Denver, beyond
the reach of RTD’s rail and bus services — which means driving on Interstate 25
is one of the only options for its nearly 70,000 residents.
If you’re headed northbound from the growing suburb, “you just never know,”
said Mayor Jason Gray. “If you’re going into Denver, it can be anywhere between
a half an hour and an hour, so it can get pretty long.”
He added: “That’s why I like to stay in town.”
The town is slated for two major projects in the state’s long-term plans — and
they symbolize how state decision makers are thinking about transit and
highways.
Hart Van Denburg/CPR NewsTraffic on Interstate 25 in Denver August 2019.
One project, a $5.5 million “mobility hub” along Interstate 25 could help bring
reliable bus service back to the town. The other project would put $37 million
into widening U.S. 85 — just one portion of a larger, far more expensive effort
to upgrade the road, which is an alternative to Interstate 25. And I-25 itself
is also set for billions of dollars of widening, interchanges and
fortifications along the Front Range.
For Castle Rock and elsewhere, the spending focuses on roads and highways —
while adding some new bus service options and electric vehicles to those roads.
“We're definitely vehicle forward, for sure,” Mayor Gray said. “We have a lot
of people who like to travel in Castle Rock by bike and multimodal stuff. But
once you get outside of Castle Rock, we don't have a lot of calls for the
multimodal.”
Funding for transit in the new proposal is split between local governments and
CDOT. For its part, the state will try to establish a demand for transit
service through an expansion of its Bustang inter-city network, said CDOT
Executive Director Shoshana Lew.
“Assuming that it's as popular as we think it will be, it helps to build the
demand for transit culture up and down [I-25],” she said. “Which, you know,
only makes it easier to talk about things like Front Range rail."
While CDOT has been criticized over the environmental impact of its plans to
expand highways like Interstate 270 and Interstate 70 at Floyd Hill, Lew said
the agency’s 10-year plan has fewer expansion projects than predecessors and is
trying to focus on pinch-points. Much of its budget is dedicated repairs, or as
Lew calls it, “stabilizing the foundation.”
“Which is probably the thing that feels on its surface the least
transformative, but might ultimately be most transformative,” she said.
Editor's note: This story has been updated to add comment from one of the bills
co-sponsors to clarify how transit funding could be distributed.
More in transportation:
- Transit Or Roads? Urban Or Rural? Transportation Funding Proposal Faces
Pull From Many Angles
- Working To Clear Roadblocks To Improve Colorado’s Transportation System
- RTD Needs Reform, Not More State Money, Says Polis
