A $181 million funding boost for Colorado transit agencies delivered by last year’s passage of the federal Bipartisan Infrastructure Bill will help the Regional Transportation District make needed repairs on its fleet of buses and trains, Erik Davidson said Monday.
However the federal funding is not earmarked for the long-awaited B Line train service, slated to stretch from Denver to Longmont, added Davidson, who represents portions of Longmont and Broomfield on the RTD Board of Directors.
“RTD currently has a $290 million maintenance backlog, and the federal funding is eligible to help reduce that backlog and keep the system in a state-of-good repair,” Davidson said via email. “Unfortunately, with regards to the extension of the B Line, the federal funding is not eligible for capital construction projects.”
Early estimates of a scaled-back “peak service plan” have put the cost of implementation of the B Line at $708 million, according to RTD. Under the peak service plan, three morning trains would operate from Longmont to Denver and three evening trains would run in the opposite direction. Each trip would run about 60 to 70 minutes, RTD officials have stated.
An $8 million study to get current and firm information on potential ridership for the B Line is currently underway, Davidson said.
“In the past, the B Line completion has not been competitive for federal discretionary grants, he said. “It is critical for us to get current and firm project costs and ridership estimates to explore our opportunities and to guide decision-making.”
Of the $181,560,111 Colorado agencies will get from the Infrastructure Bill, RTD will get $113,739,727, according to a joint news release from U.S. Senators John Hickenlooper and Michael Bennet.
The funding will help transit authorities modernize and expand services for residents in the communities by buying new buses and railcars, addressing repair backlogs, and transitioning to new technologies to address the climate crisis, the news release states.
Tansfort in Fort Collins will get $6,450,842 and the Mountain Metropolitan Transit in Colorado Springs will collect $11,411,805 from the Infrastructure Bill, the news release states.
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