RTD may reroute parts of FasTracks
By Kevin Flynn, Rocky Mountain News (Contact)
Wednesday, February 13, 2008
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RTD is looking to reroute segments of four FasTracks corridors around pricey Union Pacific tracks and could take more homes and businesses as a result.
The exact locations, number of properties and cost can't be known until more study is done.
FasTracks lines to the airport, Thornton, Boulder and Wheat Ridge all require changes in alignments because of failed negotiations with the railroad for key pieces of land, primarily UP yards at 38th Street near Brighton Boulevard.
RTD still plans to buy a lot of the right-of-way property it needs from Union Pacific but it has to find alternative routes close to Union Station, where the railroad's price was too high for the FasTracks program to afford.
Bill Van Meter, an RTD manager on the project, said the agency doesn't yet know where the relocated portions will be, but will hold public meetings in each of the four corridors. It will delay environmental studies from six to nine months longer than anticipated and add up to $9 million to RTD's consultant costs.
RTD also will consider placing a commuter-rail maintenance facility and yard, which had been planned for the Union Pacific site, on RTD's own property at 31st Street and Ringsby Court, the Platte Division bus maintenance operation.
"We have a willing landowner there," Van Meter said. RTD already has a new bus maintenance facility in the FasTracks budget.
The airport line is the East Corridor. RTD can't use the Union Pacific right-of-way until east of Quebec Street, so it is looking at private and city- owned property along the tracks, as well as a deviation south along old tracks through the Cole and Clayton neighborhoods.
The Gold Line to Arvada/ Wheat Ridge and Northwest Rail to Boulder/Longmont would still share tracks but run north out of downtown on private land RTD would acquire east of the Union Pacific tracks to Utah Junction.
For the North Metro Corridor to Commerce City/Thornton, RTD is looking at private and city land parallel to the Burlington Northern-Santa Fe main line west of the South Platte River, instead of the UP tracks it would have shared with the East Corridor.
flynnk@RockyMountainNews.com or 303-954-5247
Comments
Posted by SteveFesch on February 14, 2008 at 5:46 a.m. (Suggest removal)
Yeah better to run over more homes and businesses then stick with a plan. Perhaps they could have purchased Union Pacific had they not blown RTDs budget years ago.
Posted by Bob299 on February 14, 2008 at 10:59 a.m. (Suggest removal)
The UP is trying to gouge RTD with an exorbitant price tag.
Posted by prk166 on February 14, 2008 at 1 p.m. (Suggest removal)
UP's is not gouging. They never indicated they would be willing to sell. UP's problem is that if they sell, they'll never be able to buy more land from anyone to replace it if needed. That's a huge risk if and when things change in the future. Keep in mind US railroads are hauling record tonnage. They're looking to expand capacity on a lot of corridors. No reason for them to tie their own hands on this one just because a metro transit project assumed they'd get the land on the cheap. The budget for Fastracks isn't spinning out of control simply because of construction costs. This is a prime example of RTD going in with the lowest possible assumption on costs. And now they'll go to the public and so "oh, sorry, we didn't do our jobs right so please forgive us". At one point do people get fired????
Posted by coloradoismyhome on February 14, 2008 at 3:14 p.m. (Suggest removal)
Why can't eminent domain happen and TAKE the property from the UP?
Posted by warrengfunk7 on February 16, 2008 at 5:42 p.m. (Suggest removal)
Oh please...
Everyone knows that railroads don't want to expand service through major metro populations. they want new railroads built around major metro areas, but they don't want to pay for it themselves. they want tax payers to pay for it and this is the railroads secrete plan to get tax payers to pay for it all for them.
They don't care about the citizens of the Denver area, their quality of life or this important piece of their metro areas future infrastructure. The railroads are whiling to undermine and comprises the quality and time line of this important transportation infrastructure, and all for their own business best interests.
We the people of the United States of America? i'm sorry, it's become... We the corporations of the United States of America. This is their country, not ours.
Do you want freight rails clogging up our cities? Do you think railroad companies want their freight rails crawling through cities at an expensively slow rate of speed? NO, they want new tracks out east of Denver and they want YOU to pay for it.
Posted by warrengfunk7 on February 16, 2008 at 5:46 p.m. (Suggest removal)
coloradoismyhome,
Railroad companies are one of the few companies/entities which have federal protection from eminent domain. In other words, eminent domain cannot be used (under any circumstances) to acquire land for any project (no mater how important it may be), from railroad companies. Their land is their land forever, unless they sale it.
They (railroad companies), can however use eminent domain to acquire more land for their business operations. What a perfect little world it is for them, eh?
Posted by prk166 on February 28, 2008 at 7:09 p.m. (Suggest removal)
Just because the railroad wants just compensation for it's important property doesn't mean it's looking for a handout.
And that's right, it is important transportation infrastructure. Surely the planners at RTD knew this. Why not blame them for trying to low ball the railroad? Worse, why not call them out for yet again making the best possible scenario assumption when they went to the voters for money fro this project?
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