Contractor crews led by Railroad Specialties of Littleton do track welding as part of the expansion of the Elati light rail maintenance facility and train yard, a part of FasTracks.

RTD has spent or committed $1.17 billion so far on FasTracks, one-sixth of the total estimated cost through 2017 of its rapid-transit expansion program.

The commitment level represents items already paid for plus current work now under contract – 17 percent of the total $6.9 billion projected cost.

Funds have been committed to all 10 rapid transit rail and bus corridors plus assorted common elements such as conversion of Denver Union Station into FasTracks’ main hub, expansion of the light rail maintenance facility in Englewood and planning for a new maintenance facility for heavy-rail commuter train cars.

A significant portion of the commitments have been made to corridors facing cutbacks if no new revenues are found to complete them.

The U.S. Department of Transportation is awarding $100 million in stimulus funding to 43 transit agencies, including Denver metro’s Regional Transportation District, for projects to reduce energy consumption and greenhouse gas emissions from both vehicles and facilities, Green Car Congress.com reports.

RTD will receive $770,000 for heating upgrades at its East Metro bus maintenance facility in Aurora. This project will replace the three existing boilers with three new 15-psi, 20-ppm NOx boilers with Advanced Hawk Integrated Control Systems. The advanced control system will operate the boilers based on load demand as opposed to outside temperature.

About 25 people gathered Wednesday to hear officials from the Colorado Department of Transportation detail an upcoming project to widen Interstate 225 from East Mississippi Avenue to East 6th Avenue, the Aurora Sentinel reports. CDOT officials laid out maps conceptualizing the roadway for people to see what the finished roadway will look like.

The long process of six-laning Interstate 225 through Aurora is on the front burner, with an open house scheduled Wednesday so CDOT can show the public what work will be done on the old four-lane section between Second and Mississippi Avenues. The project also includes restriping the upgraded but still four-lane section north of Second, where drivers have plenty of wide concrete but only two through lanes until more widening is completed. CDOT hasn’t yet selected a contractor for the project, and the construction schedule isn’t yet set. But when it is completed, it will open six through lanes for the entire segment between Interstate 70 on the north and Mississippi on the south.

View I-225 Widening in a larger map

The public comment period for FasTracks’ I-225 Corridor Environmental Evaluation ends Monday, with the preferred alternative being a 10.5-mile light rail extension connecting the Nine Mile Station with the Peoria Station of the planned FasTracks commuter train to Denver International Airport.