RTD simulation shows what the East Corridor electric powered commuter train would look like near DIA.

The Final Environmental Impact Statement for RTD’s FasTracks East Corridor commuter train to Denver International Airport is available for public viewing and comment prior to public hearings scheduled for later this month.

The deadline for comments is Oct. 7. If the Federal Transit Administration approves the findings afterward, RTD would be able to move the 22.8-mile heavy-rail electrified train corridor into final design and toward construction. But don’t expect it to happen right away, because the East Corridor is one of the two FasTracks train commuter train projects that RTD is packaging into one in an attempt to solicit private investors and save money. That process is underway, and the request for proposals is expected to go out at the end of September.

The study was released last week. Online visitors can submit their comments on it here.

The East Corridor isn’t the longest in FasTracks – that distinction belongs to the Northwest Rail Corridor to Westminster, Broomfield, Boulder and Longmont at 41 miles.

The preferred alternative alignment for the East Corridor, with station locations and optional elements noted.

But the East Corridor is the most expensive of the 10 FasTracks rapid transit corridors, at more than $1.64 billion. It connects Denver Union Station with DIA’s planned expansion of the Jeppesen Terminal. DIA is planning a system that would allow airline passengers to check bags downtown and transfer at the airport to the people-mover that goes to the concourses.

“We are moving closer to providing safe, reliable rapid-transit to an estimated average of 37,900 weekday riders, beginning in 2015,” said Carol Duecker, project manager for the East Corridor EIS. “The FEIS culminates six years of screening, analysis and unprecedented public involvement and I encourage residents, businesses and stakeholders to provide their input over the next 30 days.”

Public hearings are scheduled from 5:30 to 8 p.m. each night, on Sept. 23 in North Middle School, 12095 Montview Blvd., Aurora, and Sept. 24 in the EXDO Event Center, 1399 35th St., Denver. The format will be open house for the first hour, then a formal presentation and question period afterward. The same information will be available at both meetings. Spanish translation, child care and light refreshments will also be available at both meetings. People with special accommodation needs can make requests for them by calling 303-299-2000 and following the prompts for East Corridor.

RTD is packaging the East Corridor with the Gold Line commuter rail corridor to Arvada and Wheat Ridge, along with construction of the FasTracks commuter rail maintenance facility, into a single project called Eagle P3, through which it hopes to attract private investors to provide financing, design, construction, operations and maintenance under a 40-year operating agreement.

This is one of RTD’s strategies aimed at a $2.2 billion funding gap in the FasTracks program, which has current estimated capital costs of $6.9 billion through 2017 but only $4.7 billion in identifiable financial resources for it. Through privatization, RTD can conserve upfront capital, although it would pay out more over time.

The East Corridor EIS examined more than 100 alternative configurations, including light rail and bus rapid transit, using I-70, the Union Pacific Railroad right of way, Bruce Randolph Avenue and Martin Luther King Boulevard. The project that voters say in the 2004 FasTracks vote was for heavy rail in the Union Pacific corridor, but it remained subject to the findings in the Final EIS.

The East Corridor EIS got underway in June 2003 as part of a joint effort with the Colorado Department of Transportation for both highway and transit improvements in the entire Interstate 70 East Corridor. But three years later, after voters approved the sales tax that helps fund FasTracks, the two modes were separated into their own studies. The highway improvements study is available online at www.I-70east.com.

Due to growth in the Stapleton area and the existence of two major travel trip generators at either end of the study area – downtown Denver and the airport, the 2030 travel demand forecast estimates 10 million trips per day in and through the corridor.

The FasTracks system map shows the East Corridor in relation to the other corridors.

The East Corridor uses the Union Pacific alignment out of Union Station to 40th Avenue and along Smith Road until it gets near Peña Boulevard. There, the tracks will curve north and then east to the airport.

But because of the inability of Union Pacific and RTD to agree on an acceptable price for some of the Union Pacific corridor rights, the East Corridor trains will run outside the railroad right of way in some locations, mostly along 40th Avenue in the Cole and Clayton neighborhoods.

The Final EIS contains these elements, among others:

• Double-track electric multiple unit (EMU) commuter rail; this is heavy rail, string enough to meet federal railroad safety standards for operations within joint-use freight railroad corridors.
• 6 new stations
• 3,529 parking spaces on opening day, in 2015 or 2016, with 7,900 spaces ultimately
• 20 grade-separated crossings
• 17 at-grade crossings
• Average weekday ridership projected to be 37,900
• 29-minute travel time from Union Station to DIA
• Service between 3:00 a.m. and 1:00 a.m., 365 days a year
• 15-minute frequency from 4:00 a.m. to 11:00 p.m.
• Annual estimated operating cost of $17.6 million, in 2008 dollars

The grade separations include Broadway, 38th Street, Burlington Northern Santa Fe Market Lead track, Quebec Street, Union Pacific mainline, Airport Boulevard, I-70, 56th Avenue, E-470, Peña Boulevard, New Castle Street, Sand Creek, First Creek and Second Creek.

The station locations, in addition to the airport and Union Station ends-of-line, are:

• 38th/Blake streets
• Colorado Boulevard
• Central Park at Stapleton
• Peoria Street
• 40th Avenue/Airport Boulevard

Three design options are also included for the Smith Road realignment (40th Avenue at Colorado Boulevard in Denver; 40th Avenue/Airport Blvd. in Aurora and New Castle Street near DIA. The document also contains details of the commuter rail maintenance facility, including its anticipated impacts and proposed mitigation measures.

After the 30-day public comment period, RTD will submit the final document to the Federal Transit Administration for review and a decision expected later in the fall. If this happens, construction can begin by 2011, with the line open to the public in 2015.