US 36 Corridor - The final span of the pedestrian bridge was set in January 2010 over U.S. 36 requiring an overnight closure of Westbound U.S. 36.

By Kevin Flynn
Inside-Lane.com
(Note: Inside Lane is back with live transportation news this week after the entire staff — one — returned from a vacation)

A new poll shows that metro Denver voters are almost evenly split on whether to approve a second sales tax hike for RTD’s FasTracks program, but that some of the counties with the most to gain from it are the most strongly opposed.

The poll done by The Kenney Group for the Coalition for Smart Transit – a non-profit partnership of business, civic, labor and environmental groups that is testing the waters for public support of FasTracks – found 50 percent of voters support and 48 percent oppose a second four-tenths of a cent tax sales tax increase to enable RTD to complete FasTracks on the original 2017 schedule. Three percent were undecided.

The results of the poll run counter to concerns expressed by some politicians in the north metro area that counties already served by RTD’s rail system would be reluctant to support a second four-tenths of a cent sales tax – double the existing tax voters approved in 2004.

It is in the north metro area, where the extra tax is needed to complete the FasTracks rapid transit corridors on the original schedule, that the poll shows the most opposition – specifically in Adams and Broomfield counties.

The poll showed only 30 percent of Broomfield voters support a tax increase, while 50 percent oppose it. In Adams County, 40 percent supported the increase while 60 percent opposed it.

But conversely, support was strong in areas already served by light rail. That seems to challenge the concerns expressed by north metro officials, including those in the North Area Transportation Alliance, that voters in parts of the metro area that already have rail transit would be reluctant to pay more tax to expand it elsewhere.

Actually, some political consultants believe that voters in areas already served by rail transit are more likely to support expansion because more of them use it, and expanding it gives them more options, including eventual rail transit to Denver International Airport, Boulder and the Fitzsimons Medical Campus in Aurora.

Even so, the poll doesn’t portend well for RTD. At a nearly even split metrowide, and with conventional wisdom holding that support generally slips in a contested campaign, RTD’s elected board of directors expects to decide next week whether to go to voters this fall with a tax increase question.

The Coalition for Smart Transit last week briefed board members on the poll. It was based on a phone survey between March 23 and 27 of 400 likely voters. It asked numerous questions on other TRTD and FasTracks issues and compared those results with similar polls in November 2007, January 2009 and April 2009.

The poll sample was distributed proportionately by population among the eight counties in the RTD area and was balanced to reflect gender and political party registration in each county. The poll has a margin of error of 4.9 percent plus or minus at a 95-percent confidence level.

Among those other issues, one of the biggest shifts was in the voters’ perception of the major concerns facing metro Denver. In the latest poll, unemployment is the biggest concern, by a substantial margin over any other. Thirty-two percent of respondents cited lack of jobs as the major issue facing the metro area. Economic conditions – a related concern – was a distant second at nine percent. Public transportation was third at six percent.

In the November 2007 survey, transportation was the top concern at 14 percent. The economy didn’t even rate a mention at that time.

The new poll also showed that despite RTD’s problems with FasTracks’ costs and the declining sales tax revenues that have ripped a $2.45 billion hole in the transit agency’s ability to build it by 2017, voters still have a strongly favorable impression of FasTracks. In fact, those holding a negative impression declined. In April of 2009, 73 percent had a favorable impression of FasTracks and 25 percent held a negative view.

Now, after a year of being buffeted by negative news about the program, FasTracks fared better with 77 percent having a favorable impression and 21 percent holding a negative one.

Confidence in RTD’s ability to complete FasTracks also has grown over the last year, as the agency has taken on more reviews and alternative approaches to completing it. Voter confidence in RTD completing the program grew from 59 percent to 62 percent, while those expressing no confidence declined from 38 percent to 33 percent.