The Denver Post reports that a Denver task force studying the Colfax Avenue streetcar proposal has determined a dual-track segment between Broadway and Colorado Boulevard, costing about $105 million, could be a “viable” first phase of the project.
The East Colfax corridor already has some of the strongest transit ridership in the country — anchored by RTD’s 15 and 15L bus routes — and that high transit volume might make a Colfax streetcar a good candidate for winning federal money, the study said.
State Bill Colorado reports that the sponsor of the FASTER bill said a lawmaker’s proposal to fund a streetcar line along Colfax Avenue using dollars from the statewide hike in vehicle-registration fees might not be proper.
Rep. Joe Rice, D-Littleton, who sponsored FASTER and shepherded it through heated, partisan debate last spring, says he would be OK with Sen. Chris Romer’s idea as long as the state’s revenue share isn’t touched and the streetcar project conforms to local government’s permissible use of the money–which he doubts.
“Were going to stay true to what we passed last year and I don’t think this falls under either category,” said Rice.
A streetcar line on Colfax Avenue between downtown Denver and Aurora’s Fitzsimons medical campus may or may not prove to be a good idea. That answer depends on studies yet to be completed. But no study is needed to know that it’s not a good idea to divert money from fixing roads and unsafe bridges to help pay for it.
Simulation shows a typical streetcar running on Colfax Avenue at Columbine Street.
RTD and other agencies that are planning transit projects will have to wait for new rules to be drafted to see if the Obama Administration’s decision last week removing Bush Administration restrictions on funding transit will bring more money into FasTracks corridors or projects like the proposed Colfax Streetcar.
U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood said last week that making transit grant funding decisions based solely on bottom-line mathematical calculations of, essentially, cost over travel-time savings failed to take into account whether projects improved a community’s livability.
As a result, the DOT will draft new regulations for its New Starts and Small Starts grant programs for transit corridors to allow consideration of such things as lowering carbon emissions, promoting economic development and relieve congestion.
RTD says it’s way too early to know the impact any changes might have on FasTracks corridors that didn’t meet the old threshold for funding.
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