Commuter rail to Denver only comes with new tax

Imagine you could abandon the drive down Interstate 25 from Fort Collins to Denver, instead boarding a high-speed train to make the trip.

Nice, right?

For that to happen, residents of Colorado will have to pay up, likely via a new tax. But the reward is a commuter line that would be up and running in as few as five years.

No funding for the estimated $1.2 billion commuter rail from Fort Collins to Denver has been identified. But the recently-completed Colorado Department of Transportation study examined what the future rail line could look like if a funding source is secured.

That money likely lies in the willingness of voters to approve a new tax revenue source for CDOT, said David Krutsinger, CDOT deputy director of transit and rail.

Krutsinger said he's confident it could happen. The 1992 gas tax hasn't been adjusted for inflation since 1992, he said, so CDOT isn't getting more money. Its annual budget is $1.2 billion — what it would cost to build the rail.

"A new tax isn't popular, but neither is congestion," he said. "The public needs to decide what it wants to invest in."

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And the traffic will only get worse. There are 4 million people living between Fort Collins and Pueblo. By 2040, Krutsinger said that's projected to grow to 6 million.

"Three more Colorado Spring-size cities (population of 700,000) will pop up along the Front Range," he said. "We need solutions."

Either way, the need is already here.

There are 1,800 to 2,300 workers commuting from Fort Collins to Denver each day, according to a recent North Front Range Metropolitan Planning Organization model.

According to the CDOT study, a 44-mile trip on the commuter rail from Fort Collins' South Transit Center to Denver's Union Station with stops at eight stations is estimated to take 96 minutes. Estimates figure a trip from Fort Collins to Longmont will take 40 minutes, which the study notes is 10 minutes faster than the FLEX bus service. The study said there would be 20 daily trips headed to Denver and 21 bound for Fort Collins.

Cost estimates include stations, maintenance facilities and a major passing over I-25. Each mile of track has a price tag from $19 to $24 million.

About 79 acres along the route must be acquired, including 37 acres between downtown Loveland and Berthoud. The estimated cost of land for the project is $25.3 million.

Learning from others

The study examined eight commuter rails across the United States. The line between Salt Lake City to Provo, Utah, most closely resembles the future North Front Range commuter rail. It runs the same distance, has eight stations and acquired roughly the same amount of property that the Front Range line would require.

By updating this study, stakeholders are better positioned to "gain support for future federal, state and regional funding that may develop," according to the study. But it also says stakeholders have made it clear that widening I-25 from Colorado Highway 66 to Fort Collins is the priority for the North Front Range.

Currently, there's no funding for that either. CDOT's plan is to widen I-25 by 2070, also at a cost of $1.2 billion.

That's unacceptable, said David May, CEO of Fort Collins Area Chamber of Commerce and chairman of Fix North I-25.

May recognizes the long-term need to grow "capacity and efficiently" as the Northern Colorado population rapidly grows in the coming decades, but widening the interstate between Fort Collins and Longmont to three lanes each way by 2025 is the short-term priority.

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A bill that would have used bonds to expand the interstate within that time frame died in a legislative committee last month.

May said some projections estimate it will take three hours to get from Fort Collins to Denver by 2030. North I-25 is a nationally-designated freight corridor that connects I-70 and I-80. May said a commuter rail won't carry materials and products or "provide enough congestion relief to make a difference."

Or would it?

Kurt Short, a longtime Fort Collins resident whose main transportation is the bus, said he thinks a commuter rail is a perfect fit for north I-25.

Short currently catches a ride with friends when he heads to Denver , where he used to live. But if a commuter rail was built, Short thinks it would be "everyone's first option."

"It would lower traffic, and it'd be quicker," Short said. "I'd definitely ride it."

Next steps

Even with the 33-page study, Krutsinger said many factors — how much it would cost to ride, how many people would need to ride it each day to keep it financially sound, etc. — can't be determined. The rail might be self-sufficient and fund its own operating and maintenance costs, or it could be subsidized like public transportation, he said.

The main purpose of the most recent study was to "update the price tag," Krustinger said. With 3 percent inflation every year, the price could rise by as much as $100 million in just a few years.

Krutsinger said the next step is getting state and local governments on board and to cooperate with the project. Who would manage it? Who would run it? Who would own it? Those are lingering questions, but he said it's imperative that Northern Colorado answer them.

"If the Front Range wants to remain competitive, nationally and globally, a commuter rail has to become an option," Krutsinger said. "Can we afford not to make it one?"

Commuter rail

Here are estimates for a possible commuter rail from Fort Collins to Denver:

•Cost: $1.2 billion

•Distance: 44 miles long

•Stations: Eight

•Start: Fort Collins South Transit Center

•Terminus: Denver Union Station

•Frequency: 20 daily trips to Denver; 21 daily trips to Fort Collins