WESTMINSTER — Commuter rail in the metro area will head in a new direction when the 6.2-mile B-Line opens later this month, bringing for the first time a swath of Denver’s northern suburbs into the region’s burgeoning transit network.

The line, launching July 25, will provide train service from the southern tip of Westminster to Denver Union Station. The 11-minute, one-way ride will cost $2.60.

“We’re incredibly excited to get this investment open,” said Dave Genova, the Regional Transportation District’s general manager and CEO.

But for many living farther up the northwest corridor — in communities such as Broomfield, Louisville, Boulder and Longmont — the B-Line opening will feel less satisfying. Louisville Mayor Bob Muckle characterized his invitation to the ribbon-cutting at the new Westminster Station at the southwest corner of Federal Boulevard and 72nd Avenue as “sort of bittersweet.”

“It’s the beginning but reminds you how long it’s going to be before you see the rest of the line,” Muckle said.

The rest of the B-Line is meant to reach downtown Longmont — 41 miles from Union Station. It was one of the promised routes when voters went to the polls in 2004 to approve a sales tax hike of 0.4 percent to fund FasTracks, the metro area’s 122-mile rail and 18-mile bus rapid transit system.

But tax revenue projections that outstripped collections and higher-than-anticipated construction costs combined to create a severe funding shortfall, much of it falling disproportionately on the northwest corridor. According to the most recent funding scenario — one that Genova calls “the most optimistic window” — the B-Line wouldn’t make it to its terminus in Longmont before 2030.

It may even take as long as 2042, depending on the cash flow situation at the RTD, before the full line is up and running.

Karen Benker, a former Longmont councilwoman and former RTD board director, helped start the group Citizens for Finishing FasTracks last year as a way to prod the transit agency to deliver on its promises sooner than later.

“You’re talking about something that is so far out in the future, it’s not real,” she said. “It’s not a serious date.”

According to RTD, residents of Boulder and Broomfield counties through 2015 have paid just over $200 million in taxes to fund FasTracks. While $178 million has gone toward the January launch of the Flatiron Flyer bus rapid transit service along 18 miles of U.S. 36 between Denver and Boulder, future commuter rail service is mired in uncertainty.

“We voted for the project, we’re paying for the project, but we’re not getting the project,” Benker said. “We need a watchdog group to keep an eye on (RTD’s) revenues and set aside any additional revenues for the northwest corridor. The longer we wait on this, the more expensive this is going to be.”

Complex track-sharing deal

RTD projects a $1.5 billion price tag to put in place the final 35 miles of the B-Line, from Westminster to Longmont. And that is money the agency simply doesn’t have and doesn’t anticipate having for years, Genova said.

The B-Line is the third significant element in the FasTracks program to go into operation in 2016, following the debut of the Flatiron Flyer and the much ballyhooed opening of the University of Colorado A-Line from Union Station to Denver International Airport in April.

The new line to Westminster is part of an $867 million endeavor that includes construction of the G-Line out to Arvada and Wheat Ridge, scheduled to open by year’s end. B-Line trains, which are electrified commuter trains like the ones that have been running on the airport line over the past two months, will run every 30 minutes during peak periods and every hour the rest of the day.

The fact that there is and has been money available to build out other lines in FasTracks, Genova said, is due not to favorable treatment of some parts of the metro area over Boulder and Broomfield counties but rather to a potpourri of variables that made certain projects financially viable in the short term. In many cases, the other lines were able to attract federal grants or unsolicited proposals from design-build firms.

But the northwest corridor’s sheer 41-mile length, by far the longest line in the FasTracks system, and its lower-density nature make it more of a challenge to fund, Genova said. There’s also the need to work out a complex track-sharing deal with BNSF, which owns the track along the entire corridor.

“I know there are people who are disappointed and I’d be, too, if I were in one of those communities that didn’t have the investment,” he said.

Although RTD doesn’t have the authority to bond or borrow money to finish the northwest portion of FasTracks on short order, Genova said projections show the agency’s cash-flow situation improving significantly by 2028. In the meantime, stakeholders in the corridor are looking at ways to get the train to Longmont rolling as swiftly as possible.

Chuck Sisk, a director on RTD’s board who represents much of Boulder County, said discussions have been held in just the past month exploring the idea of operating the rest of the B-Line on a more limited basis to start. That means instead of 50 or more train trips going in both directions all day long, a dozen or so trips would move people during rush hours only.

“What can we do to step forward with something that would not be the ultimate service we want but would be palatable for us and the communities along the line?” Sisk said. “The fact that we’re opening up the 6.2 miles is a big step. It gives us some momentum.”

RTD director Judy Lubow, whose district represents Longmont, said while feelings among her constituents are marked by anger and some resignation to a rail-free future, she said she has never felt more hopeful since being on the board about breaking the B-Line logjam. Perhaps not in the next few years but in her lifetime.

“What I’m telling people is to not resign themselves to not getting it — there is work being done,” Lubow said.

The wait is over

For Westminster, the wait is over — at least in terms of a direct rail link to Denver. And that means work can begin on building a transit-oriented development on the 80 acres surrounding Westminster Station, said economic development director John Hall.

Buildings around the station will reach heights of six to eight stories, injecting density into an area that has largely been made up of low-slung, light-industrial facilities. Earlier this month, it was announced that a $29 million, 70-unit apartment complex for low-income families is planned for a site three blocks from Westminster’s new rail station.

A 50-acre public park will anchor the southern portion of the station site, while a four-story parking garage, with 350 spaces reserved for RTD riders, sits on the north side of the tracks.

Hall said the market-driven plan, which could take 15 to 20 years to build out, represents Westminster’s shift away from being a “first-rate suburb” to being a “retail and job center.”

With the urban-style downtown Westminster neighborhood under construction at West 92nd Avenue and Sheridan Boulevard, which sits near a Flatiron Flyer stop, the city suddenly has two critical transit links to Denver and the rest of RTD’s growing transit network.

“This doesn’t mean the whole city becomes urban, but it means that a couple of areas become more urban in scale and nature,” Hall said. “It will be substantially different than it is today.”

It’s that potential for rail-centered growth that is eluding communities further up the northwest corridor. Longmont assistant city manager Shawn Lewis said his city is somewhat shielded from the rail delay because RTD has already committed to building a $17 million transit center near First Avenue and Main Street.

But there’s no doubt, Lewis said, that a commuter rail stop would accelerate projects and even bring some developers to the city that for now may be playing wait-and-see.

“While we think we’ll see some of that activity with the transit center at First and Main, those opportunities are more limited without rail,” he said.

Case in point: The city has yet to receive redevelopment proposals for three corners of the city’s main downtown intersection.

Benker, the former Longmont councilwoman, said a rail stop has a different effect on development plans than a bus hub does. It’s a big reason she’s pushing for a faster completion of the entire B-Line — all 41 miles from Longmont to Denver.

“When you have a train station, it’s a huge economic generator for quality growth,” Benker said. “A good-faith effort from RTD would be very much appreciated.”

B-Line Fast Facts

Type: Electrified commuter rail

Length: 6.2 miles

One-way trip: 11 minutes

Cost: $2.60

Capacity on board: 182 seated passengers and 158 standing (for two-car married pair)

Stations: 2 (Westminster and Union Station)

Parking spaces at Westminster Station: 350

Headways (peak): 30 minutes

Headways (off-peak): 60 minutes

First train from Westminster (weekday): 5:13 a.m.

Last train from Denver (weekday): 10:21 p.m.

Future of FasTracks

Funded

B-Line (Union Station to Westminster): Opens July 25

G-Line (Union Station to Arvada, Wheat Ridge): Opens fall 2016

R-Line (light rail along Interstate 225): Opens winter 2016

N-Line (Union Station to Thornton): Opens 2018

Southeast Corridor Extension (Lone Tree): Opens 2019

Unfunded