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Northwest Rail up for more discussion Monday when transportation board hears annual report from RTD

RTD board and staff members are slated to discuss ridership trends, an update on Colo. 119 Bus Rapid Transit and the beleaguered Northwest Rail project. 
Macie May
Macie May
2021_02_09_LL_rtd_rail
"RTD A Line train nearing station stop" jayayess1190 / licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 2.0

The Longmont Transportation Advisory Board on Monday will hear an annual report from the Regional Transportation District. 

RTD board and staff members are slated to discuss ridership trends, an update on Colo. 119 Bus Rapid Transit and the beleaguered Northwest Rail project. 

Longmont was slated to be part of RTD’s Northwest Rail project, an extension of the B Line, which was included in the FasTracks expansion program and accompanying 0.4% tax voters approved in 2004. Original projections were that Northwest Rail would be complete by 2017 but unforeseen costs and other miscues have pushed the anticipated completion date of the rail line to as far out as 2050.

Longmont has contributed more than $60 million to FasTracks since the 2004 vote, Jim Golden, Longmont’s chief financial officer, said in an email in January. To date, the only FasTracks spending slated for Longmont is $17 million for the First and Main transit station. 

Capital costs of completing four unfinished FasTracks projects — including the B Line — would reach over $2 billion and the earliest the northwest route would be finished is in the “2040s,” Bill Van Meter, RTD’s chief planner, told the board during a work session in February.

Gov. Jared Polis, during that work session and previously in a letter in January, urged RTD to make good on its promise to Boulder County residents and complete the Northwest Rail line by 2025. Colorado Congressman Joe Neguse, who represents part of Boulder County, also sent a letter to RTD in February asking RTD to complete the long-promised rail project.  

RTD CEO and General Manager Debra Johnson, who had previously questioned if the B Line extension is the best option for the region, last month said she will present a plan within 60 days that will likely call for the agency to use a portion of its FasTracks savings account to fund new studies of the Northwest Rail plan.

The Colo. 119 Bus Rapid Transit plan aims to address the growing traffic that travels the highway daily between Longmont and Boulder. Currently, 45,000 vehicles a day travel the corridor and traffic is projected to increase 25% by 2040, according to Commuting Solutions.

Community Solutions is a service organization that advocates transportation options for commuters and local governments in Boulder and Broomfield counties, according to the group’s website.

The Colorado Department of Transportation is starting the first design of the corridor this year, Audrey DeBarros, executive director of Commuting Solutions, said in an email earlier this year. 

Want to listen in?

Monday’s Transportation Advisory Board meeting starts at 6 p.m. Anyone wishing to attend or to provide comments prior to the meeting can call Stacy Depe at 303-651-8303.