This growth will put heavy demands on Colorado's transportation system, especially in the Front Range Corridor. The Front Range is forecast to grow from 4. No action alter-natives for north and south of Denver on I show vehicle travel times doubling in the next 20 years. The elements of the preliminary effort will include:. CDOT has institutionalized streamlining measures that accelerate project delivery during planning. Examples include programmatic agreements and blended teams.
CDOT has strong relationships with regulatory agencies and has demonstrated success in completing NEPA in less time than the nationwide average. The platform lengths along Welton Street accommodate three-car trains at most, which limits the operation of D Line trains to three-car trains, and requires additional four-car trains on lines such as the F and H to run every 30 minutes and circle the loop.
This would help balance the number of trains per hour that run through downtown Denver and allow the C Line service trains running between Mineral Station and Denver Union Station, on the north end of downtown , to be increased.
This is important because, in recent years, ridership has been growing for trains that serve Denver Union Station, and decreasing for trains that serve central downtown. Service on the E Line had already been increased to run every 15 minutes in the peak periods and RTD ridership projections predicted similar increases to the C Line would be needed.
These changes to LRT vehicle assignments would lead to an overall savings in annual miles operated. The L Line would cost slightly more to operate because of the additional service through downtown Denver, although the savings in vehicle miles would more than offset the costs. The difference in those numbers depends on how many vehicles are run in an L Line consist. Another positive aspect of running one-car trains through the Welton Street area is that they are more appropriate for the neighborhood.
Finally, a lasting benefit of the L Line introduction is increased flexibility for future service possibilities. By putting the L Line on its own route, it is possible to more easily implement the Central Rail Extension as the operations plan for mixing in with the other light-rail trains in the downtown loop has been implemented. The L Line opens other possibilities as well, such as someday running low-floor vehicles more like modern streetcars seen in many cities today on the line, which are also more fitting for the neighborhood, and more in line with the trains performing as a lower volume streetcar line, which is essentially how they already operate.
At the conclusion of the Central Rail Extension Mobility Study, implementation of most recommendations awaited construction funding. Due to financial and budgeting issues that were not forecast as part of the FasTracks program, including the Great Recession from December to June , there were some extensions that were not funded for several years. One included more specific public involvement compared to regular service changes, and the other included minor infrastructure changes that needed to be made downtown.
For the public involvement piece, it was decided to implement a three-pronged approach: meet with riders at stations, meet with community organizations directly, and hold meetings with specific stakeholders. This is in addition to the regular public hearing approach employed as part of the usual service change process. Meetings with riders included selecting which high-ridership stations to staff with RTD employees during peak times, discussing proposed changes, and providing information on the new L Line concept and expanded C Line service.
These, and other approaches, proved helpful when the RTD Board of Directors approved the proposed changes as most of the public was already informed, thus alleviating a lot of misunderstanding about the process. As noted, implementing the L Line without the Central Rail Extension required no new infrastructure to be constructed.
However, there were minor changes to the wayside that were required, including cooperation with the city of Denver for traffic signal work and adjusting the train to wayside communication TWC system to recognize trains that would be going south through downtown Denver and requiring a different switch alignment for them to return north.
This complemented the adjustments that needed to be made in that area to deal with the L Line trains that would be returning north at this location. An application needed to be made to the Public Utilities Commission for these minor changes, so the two projects were combined. The L Line movement was able to be fit within the existing traffic signal phases, which helped mitigate any timing issues with downtown Denver traffic. RTD added another TWC loop just ahead of the switch before 14 th and Stout to provide earlier detection so that the switch would be lined correctly, depending on the destination of the train that was entering the switch.
These minor adjustments did not require an additional budget request for RTD and were funded within existing maintenance-of-way budgets. This was less costly and less disruptive than building a new pocket track in the area.
The L Line began service on January 14, , so there are ridership and performance results available to determine the success of the project. Ridership increased overall on the corridor when comparing data after the service change to data before. Following the general rule of thumb, larger population, more traffic and transportation issues. Proposition plans to combat the continuous growth in our city by expanding the light rail and bus routes. By the view of the the projected light rail expansion depicted in purple the light rail will follow Cactus Road until Paradise Valley Mall.
The map indicates how everything will be connected and can display the benefits from this expansion.
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