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.
A group of rail transit advocates asked a federal judge on Tuesday to stop FasTracks construction at Denver Union Station until the court can rule in a lawsuit seeking to overturn the environmental approval for the work.
The Regional Transportation District has put together a $122.6 million wish list of projects that are ready to go in the event Congress approves a second stimulus program for transportation infrastructure. Half of that total consists of four FasTracks pieces totaling $60.5 million.
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.”
FasTracks’ federal funding picture came into sharper focus on Friday as the Federal Transit Administration announced it will provide the sought-after $304 million in loans toward the conversion of Denver Union Station and $120 million in grants to three rail corridors.
Rendering shows Denver Union Station after its planned conversion into the hub of seven FasTracks rail corridors. DUSPA graphic.
Federal Transit Administrator Peter Rogoff is in Denver on Friday to talk about the Obama Administration’s inclusion of $80 million in initial grants to the FasTracks East Corridor and Gold Line projects and to disclose whether the feds will issue a $300 million loan to the FasTracks renovation of Union Station.
The proposed fiscal year 2011 grants of $40 million each to the East Corridor line to Denver International Airport and the Gold Line to Arvada-Wheat Ridge come under the Federal Transit Administration’s New Full Funding Grant Agreement Funding Recommendations.
It is a good sign that the agency intends to follow up with full grant agreements for the two lines. The $1.233 billion East Corridor financing plan anticipates $850.44 million New Starts grant, while the $517 million Gold Line plan includes a $180 million New Starts grant.
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.
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