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| Re: Denver EMUs Running Under Power (1349147) | |||
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Re: Denver EMUs Running Under Power |
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Posted by coneyisl on Thu Apr 23 11:34:40 2015, in response to Re: Denver EMUs Running Under Power, posted by MainR3664 on Wed Apr 22 07:01:13 2015. We have a lot of opportunity in Colorado, and when it comes to major capital projects we have several major advantages over large older cities (mostly due to no fault of their own). We also have a major delay in one of our projects. Most importantly we have lots of land on which to build, with a tiny fraction of the property acquisition needed (at much lower cost) than other places. We have UP and BNSF hubs right next to downtown Denver (Denver Union Station) which helped with right of way. We had an abandoned trolley line from the 50's for which the right of way was still available. We had a central valley interstate that was in need of reconstruction anyway. We have a transportation district to which people from elsewhere in the State do not belong and therefore did not have to agree to nor pay the taxes to help pay for the project. We have relatively lower labor costs and somewhat inexpensive energy costs. We had the foresight to annex an immense part of a neighboring county for the express purpose of building a new airport with plans to eventually link it to DUS, and right of way that was preserved for 30 years until we were in a position to build. In short we were forward thinking, we had relatively low taxes, lots of luck, and natural blessings.The delayed project is the Northwest Line to Boulder and Longmont. When the original FastTracks tax was passed, energy and supply costs were a third of what they are now. This is a 35 mile EMU served line that is probably 20 years off into the future from the stand-point of funding. It was put on the backburner due to unexpected cost increases (imagine that). Bus BRT along Highway 36 (including an almost complete reconstruction and expansion) was the tradeoff and will be completed this summer. That's a topic for another post and I will be fascinated to learn how much increased bus ridership will result. In defense of RTD, this line was the most expensive to build in terms of construction and right of way acquisition costs. It will be built along a mostly single track right of way with BNSF. It will require the rebuilding and expansion of MANY bridges and large curving embankments in difficult terrain. It might be though, the heaviest traveled corridor as Boulder patronage would be considerable with the University, and a population of people who are as public transportation and environmentally inclined as they come. RTD tossed the NW side of the metropolitan area a bone by building a 6.2 mile EMU served spur to Westminster which will be the jumping-off point to further NW extension when/if it ever happens. |
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