U.S. District Judge John Kane today declined to issue an order that would have halted work that began this week on the conversion of Denver Union Station into the rail hub for the FasTracks network. At a hearing this morning, the judge denied a motion by the Colorado Rail Passenger Association for a temporary restraining order.
The Denver Union Station Project Authority’s contractor for the Denver Union Station redevelopment project, Kiewit Western, will begin early construction activities at Denver Union Station beginning on Monday, Feb. 22, 2010. Traffic will be redirected on Wewatta to one lane in each direction on the westbound side for a few weeks starting on Monday, Feb. 22.
A divided RTD board committee has given preliminary approval to removing a set of planned moving walkways from the design of the FasTracks transfer facility at Denver Union Station,a controversial element that has divided transit advocates and helped spawn a lawsuit.
An RTD board committee gave preliminary approval Tuesday evening to a financial plan for FasTracks that keeps the option open of asking metro Denver voters for a second sales tax increase in November. But several members were clear they think that option is not realistic.
Lakewood Edge reports that Colorado’s most active – and vocal – group of passenger-rail advocates is raising concerns over the federal government’s decision to guarantee more than $300 million in funding for Denver’s Union Station project, saying the money will go to build “a train station without trains.”
The Denver Post reports that some RTD directors are upset over a proposal to eliminate moving walkways from a combination underground bus station and passageway linking planned light-rail and commuter-rail platforms at Denver’s Union Station.
“It’s the same kind of bait and switch” as when the light-rail platform was moved 2 1/2 blocks west of Union Station in the redevelopment design for the area, said board member Wally Pulliam. The moving sidewalks are supposed to make the transfer between the light-rail and commuter-rail stations easier for commuters, Pulliam said.
The Denver Union Station Project Authority, which is planning the $480 million remake of the station area as part of FasTracks, says the underground bus station linking the two rail facilities is too narrow and crowded for the currently designed moving walkways and they likely will increase congestion for pedestrians.
The Denver Post reports that Denver officials are considering assuming a “moral obligation” of up to $8 million a year from its general fund to back up about $300 million in federal loans for redevelopment of Denver’s Union Station area.
The backing would be needed if tax receipts from the redevelopment fail to cover debt payments.
Denver finance chief Claude Pumilia told members of the Denver City Council’s FasTracks committee that the action is needed quickly to keep the $480 million project on schedule.
Rendering shows DUS underground bus station with moving sidewalks now proposed to be removed.
Rail transit advocates on criticized a change in the FasTracks’ Denver Union Station design that they had both predicted and feared – planners are now proposing to remove moving walkways from a below-ground covered bus station meant to help transport riders between light rail and commuter train platforms nearly three blocks apart.
The Colorado Rail Passengers Association, which has long advocated keeping the light rail and heavy rail boarding areas adjacent to each other, said it expected the proposed change because it always thought there wasn’t enough room for the moving sidewalks within the bus station area connecting the two train platforms.
ColoRail president Ira Schreiber said changes need to be made in the plan. “This shows that the present plan does not work to serve the future users of Denver Union Station.”
By Bob Brewster
Vice President, Colorado Rail Passenger Association
Why would a group of especially devoted and knowledgeable rail advocates bring a legal action against the redevelopment plan for Denver Union Station? In a word: Violations. It violates good principles of transportation, it violates the Vision Statement of the plan, it violates fiscal prudence, it violates the historical character and protection of the station, and it violates the trust of the voters who taxed themselves for an efficient rail system for their future mobility requirements.
Transit advocates might seem like odd opponents of a transit project, but members of Colorail – the Colorado Rail Passenger Association – and their supporters plan to speak out Thursday night against the current design of the FasTracks rail hub at Denver Union Station.
The occasion is a public meeting of the Denver Union Station Project Authority, the entity overseeing the financing and contracts for the redevelopment of the historic station and its environs.
Colorail members say the way the design evolved over the past few years makes the so-called “crown jewel” of RTD’s FasTracks program more like costume jewelry. But RTD and its supporters say the current design is a result of cost constraints, operational issues and consensus building over the course of a lengthy environmental process, and that the issues Colorail raises were discussed and settled. Reversing course would add cost and schedule delay that the FasTracks program cannot absorb.
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