Secret talks plot new light rail

Privately funded lines could link Pepsi Center, Coors Field, LoDo and
campus by 2000, Auraria official says

By Perry Swanson
The Metropolitan

A new light rail line from the Central Corridor to Coors Field might link Auraria to the baseball park, the Pepsi Center and Union Station by 2000.

Dean Wolf, Aurariaâs vice president of Administration, said major stakeholders in Lower Downtown and the Central Platte Valleyâs development have been meeting secretly since October at the Trillium Corp.âs offices to discuss ways to fund a transit system for the area.

Representatives from Auraria, the Pepsi Center, the Denver Broncos, Coors Field, Union Station, Coloradoâs Ocean Journey, the Downtown Denver Partnership, Elitch Gardens, RTD, the City and County of Denver and the Trillium Corp. have taken part in the secret light rail meetings.

RTDâs Central Corridor line runs from I-25 and Broadway, past Auraria on Colfax and into downtown along California and Stout streets. RTD would operate the new line.

Auraria might allow the tracks to pass through campus, Wolf said. Auraria is otherwise prohibited from contributing cash to the project because it is a state institution.

Wolf said having a rail line linking Auraria to LoDo would raise revenues for the campus because it would make Auraria an attractive place to park and ride the light rail to LoDo at night and on weekends.

The Auraria light rail station would most likely be between parking lots E and F, located west of the parking garage, he said.

ãWeâre already looking at parking prices in LoDo between $5 and $10,ä Wolf said. ãMore and more people will be looking to alternative modes of transportation.ä

Wolf said Auraria lots would be reserved exclusively for students and faculty on weekdays.
The group wants the Auraria trains running by 2000 when a Southwest Corridor light rail line, which will run from South Santa Fe Drive to I-25 and Broadway, is scheduled to open.

Senior Transportation Planner Bill Sirois, the city representative at the meetings, said the city invited the stakeholders to talk about alleviating traffic and pollution in the area, after the city began an air-quality study of downtown and the Central Platte Valley in 1997.

City officials predicted that carbon monoxide and particulate levels would likely exceed federal standards if they couldnât find another way for people to get to downtown events, especially during concurrent events, such as Broncos and Colorado Avalanche games.

ãWe identified (air quality) as a problem and got people involved,ä Sirois said. ãThe city always had in the back of their mind that light rail would be involved.ä

A light-rail line serving LoDo might alleviate the pollution, and stakeholders agreed that traffic and air quality problems could drive people away from downtown, taking their money with them, he said.

Sirois added that the Environmental Protection Agency has threatened to withhold federal highway funds where new development might push air pollution levels beyond federal limits.

Some stakeholders have direct responsibility to control traffic. The Washington-based Trillium Corp. is planning to build 2,000 residential units and 3.7 million square feet of commercial space in the Central Platte Valley behind Union Station, Sirois said.

Trillium must develop a plan to encourage customers and residents to abandon their cars for car pooling and mass transit before the city will grant the developers a building permit, he added.

The group might foot the bill for some of the operating costs of the new line. John Claflin, RTDâs director of planning and development, said he hopes the stakeholders contribute enough money to get the project on track.

RTD and the city attorneys have discussed issuing debt bonds as an alternative funding source for the project, he said.

A city bond issue would have to be approved by a citywide election.
 

Claflin said RTD does not know how much the rail line would cost, and the RTD board denied him permission to formally study the costs. He said the board would let him study the where the tracks would go and where the stations would be.
 

An Auraria line was part of last yearâs failed Guide the Ride initiative. The lineâs cost was not itemized in the proposal, Claflin said.

Voters in the six-county RTD area derailed the plan in an election last November by 16 percentage points. Denver residents, however, voted in favor of the plan by a narrow margin.