Regional Transportation District of Denver

Making tracksDenverÔÇÖs Regional Transportation District puts light rail expansion on the fast track, Jenn Monroe reports. When first introduced, light rail was not an easy sell in the greater Denver area. Bill Van Meter was a junior transportation planner for the Regional Transportation District of Denver at the time. ÔÇ£When we started the central corridor, one of the big challenges was proving the concept,ÔÇØ he remembers. ÔÇ£We really had to get the regional community interested in the benefits of light rail.ÔÇØ Now senior manager of systems planning, Van Meter says those doubts dissolved once that first line opened in 1994. ÔÇ£We had so many riders we had to order more vehicles,ÔÇØ he says. ÔÇ£There was more demand than even we projected; they saw the proof.ÔÇØToday, RTDÔÇÖs light rail system is being fueled by community support and demand. It records 70,000 passenger trips each day during the week, though projections were set at 54,000. ÔÇ£Now weÔÇÖre struggling to keep up with demand,ÔÇØ Van Meter says. ÔÇ£WeÔÇÖre already exceeding our 2020 forecast.ÔÇØ Next up for RTD: FasTracks. FasTracks is RTDÔÇÖs voter-approved, 12-year program to expand light rail, commuter rail and bus service throughout the RTD service area. Scheduled for completion in 2017, FasTracks will create six new rail corridors, extend three existing corridors, build 18 miles of bus rapid transit service, add 21,000 new parking spaces, redevelop Denver Union Station and expand bus service across the eight-county district. ÔÇ£People are clamoring to get this system done,ÔÇØ says Van Meter. FasTracks comes on the heels of the successful Transportation Expansion Project, or T-REX, which developed the Southeast Corridor Light Rail that opened in November 2006. T-REX was the first of three corridors prioritized for development in the mid-1990s by RTD, the Colorado Department of Transportation, the Denver Regional Council of Governments, the Federal Highway Administration and the Federal Transit Administration. FasTracksÔÇÖ first project, the West Corridor, was second on that list. The West Corridor Light Rail Line will run 12.1 miles between historic Denver Union Station in downtown Denver and the Jefferson County Government Center in Golden. It will serve Denver, Lakewood, the Denver Federal Center, Golden and Jeffco. Although construction officially began in May 2007 with removal of old trolley tracks to make way for utility relocations, it will truly ramp up this year with the building of six bridges.Although there is plenty of public supportÔÇöthe voters agreed in 2004 to a tax increase of four-tenths of a percent to help fund the programÔÇöFasTracks is not without its challenges. ÔÇ£WeÔÇÖve realized how much developing transit has changed since putting the FasTracks plan together,ÔÇØ says Pauletta Tonilas, public information manager for RTD, ÔÇ£especially the cost of building materials.ÔÇØ Including the final construction contract price, the total project cost of the West Corridor will be $707 million, which reflects the unprecedented escalation in the cost of construction materials and fuel.Tonilas is confident of RTDÔÇÖs success. ÔÇ£We have a successful history of completing projects on time and on budget,ÔÇØ she says. Much like the T-REX project, RTD is using the design-build contract delivery method for some of its FasTracks projects. This approach allowed the T-REX project to be completed earlier than projected and could do the same for other corridors. For the West Corridor project, RTD is working with the Denver Transit Construction Group on a construction manager/general contractor approach. CM/GC is a hybrid of design-build in which the contractor is brought on during the design process to provide input on efficiencies that can be attained during design and construction. ÔÇ£WeÔÇÖve already accelerated the project by a year by choosing this contractor and this approach,ÔÇØ Van Meter says.ÔÇ£We have a great model to build off,ÔÇØ Tonilas says. ÔÇ£We have a lot of visitors who want to see how weÔÇÖve done it, how we started. This is the most ambitious transit expansion of our time.ÔÇØIn addition to design-build, RTD also is using a public-private partnership approach for FasTracks and has combined three projectsÔÇöthe East and the Gold Line corridors and the commuter rail maintenance facilityÔÇöinto one that will be done with a team of private partners. RTD will pay a long-term lease to the partners but retain the asset, while some of the risk will be shifted to the private team. This team also will be responsible for maintenance and operation.ÔÇ£WeÔÇÖve had a good experience with T-REX and contracting out about half of our bus service, and weÔÇÖre seeing cost savings,ÔÇØ Van Meter says of RTDÔÇÖs other public-private partnerships. ÔÇ£The private sector is able to come in, design-build and operate the system. They are motivated to find efficiencies. There is a real cost savings over the traditional approach.ÔÇØBut projects such as this take time to do right, and keeping the community from getting discouraged about the time frame might be RTDÔÇÖs biggest challenge. As it stands, the West Corridor isnÔÇÖt scheduled to open until 2013. ÔÇ£It takes years and years of planning to put something like this in place,ÔÇØ Tonilas says. ÔÇ£ItÔÇÖs the kind of thing people want, and they want it now.ÔÇ£I worked on the T-REX project before FasTracks, and when it started construction people were saying, ÔÇÿFive years is going to be forever,ÔÇÖÔÇØ she continues. ÔÇ£But the project went so well that the five years went by very fast.ÔÇØTonilas and Van Meter are as excited about the project as the community appears to be. ÔÇ£I love taking light rail to work and home,ÔÇØ Tonilas says. ÔÇ£I wish everyone had that opportunity, and they will. The thing IÔÇÖm most excited about is seeing over the next nine years how this program will lead the transformation of this metro area.ÔÇØThis transformation will have quite a positive impact on air quality for the Denver area. ÔÇ£Right now we have about 20 million light rail trips each year, and that is saving 26,000 tons of carbon dioxide from being emitted into the air,ÔÇØ Tonilas says. ÔÇ£The future impact of this program will be significant.ÔÇØRTDÔÇÖs success also is having a continued impact on the industry. The American Public Transportation Association recently named it the 2008 Outstanding Public Transportation System in North America. This is the highest award given by the organization and marks the third time RTD has received the honor. ┬á