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RTD working on cost numbers for FasTracks rail in Longmont

“We need to get the cost numbers and get them in a transparent way,” RTD board member Lynn Guissinger told the Longmont Transportation Advisory Board during a Monday video presentation. “We need to get the information to the voters up there.” 
Monte Whaley
Monte Whaley
b-line-First-train
B Line train Denver Regional Transportation District

An updated design study of the proposed commuter train system to Boulder County will go before the Regional Transportation District board of directors in April, which may help guide the agency in revamping the long-awaited Northwest Rail project.

The board also will look at cost estimates for the Northwest  Rail — an extension of the B Line that connects Westminster to downtown Denver — which will include a scaled-back peak service plan and whether the train should be electric or diesel-powered, members of the RTD board told the Longmont Transportation Advisory Board Monday night.

“We need to get the cost numbers and get them in a transparent way,” RTD board member Lynn Guissinger told the advisory board during a video presentation. “We need to get the information to the voters up there.” 

Guissinger represents the bulk of Boulder County on the RTD board.

Gov. Jared Polis  — as well as U.S. Rep Joe Neguse — have renewed calls for the completion of the B Line, which was scheduled to be finished by 2017 as part of the 2004 voter-approved FasTracks project and the 0.4 % sale tax to fund it. 

Cost overruns and economic downturns have pushed back the completion date of the B Line to the mid-2040s, angering local officials including Longmont City Council. Longmont has chipped in more than $60 million to fund FasTracks, even though there is no commuter rail in the city. 

RTD now estimates that completing the B Line — as well as three other unfunded FasTracks projects — will cost $2.1 billion to $2.4 billion. 

So far, RTD has spent $5.6 billion on FasTracks capital projects, said Erik Davidson, who represents most of Longmont on the RTD board, in an email.

Davidson told the transportation panel that a reduced peak service plan would likely cost between $710 million to $800 million, with half of the costs covering the right-of-way on the BNSF rail line.

A new study of the Northwest Rail also will likely cover ridership numbers. 

“I get asked about ridership numbers all the time,” Davidson said.

Both Guissinger and Davidson praised the new leadership at RTD, including the agency’s CEO and general manager Debra Johnson. Johnson in January pushed for a reexamination of the stalled B Line.

“We are really trying to bring back the RTD brand, “ Guissinger said. “We became the agency of ‘No.’ We are really trying to change that.