The Entrance Vary Passenger Rail District board might resolve this month whether or not to hunt voter approval this November of a brand new gross sales tax elevating as much as $500 million a 12 months to jump-start rail transit to Boulder and up and down the I-25 hall, the district basic supervisor mentioned at a Colorado Solar occasion.
However that’s solely one among dozens of questions on new passenger rail left unanswered to date in Colorado, as momentum builds to make use of once-in-a-lifetime federal support to broaden practice transit, our consultants mentioned.
Nonetheless to be decided, our consultants acknowledged: What number of segments, from Pueblo to Denver to Boulder to Fort Collins, get constructed first? Who, whether or not the state or RTD, is definitely operating the trains? Can RTD’s $190 million FasTracks financial savings account nonetheless be spent to complete a Boulder line? Why not run extra buses as an alternative?
All good questions, mentioned Entrance Vary Passenger Rail basic supervisor Andy Karsian, and RTD basic supervisor Debra Johnson. But lots of them can’t be answered earlier than realities of the political calendar pressure selections on whether or not to ask voters for extra money in 2024, or to attend till 2026, Karsian mentioned.
And sure, folks pissed off at paying FasTracks gross sales tax for nearly 20 years in areas nonetheless not served by RTD passenger trains would additionally should pay the brand new 13-county gross sales tax if it passes, Karsian mentioned. No exemptions for grumpy taxpayers.
“So that they must pay a brand new tax, proper, as a result of we’re speaking about a whole hall,” Karsian mentioned. “We’re not simply speaking in regards to the Northwest Rail (to Boulder). What they voted on earlier than was an RTD poll measure query for FasTracks. It has been in a financial savings account and is being saved for these functions as devoted and accredited by the voters.”
“The thrilling factor I’m actually jazzed about,” Karsian mentioned, “is the concept of having the ability to leverage these {dollars}” by means of a partnership between RTD and Entrance Vary Passenger Rail, in addition to federal officers controlling billions of {dollars} in infrastructure cash meant for rail growth.
There’s no assure, although, that RTD’s $190 million financial savings account will likely be instantly spent to complete a Boulder rail connection that essentially the most vocal public officers appear to favor, Johnson cautioned. FasTracks was halted with various promised corridors unfinished, together with for instance an extension of the Southwest Rail Line into closely populated Highlands Ranch. These taxpayers, and folks on different unfinished corridors, deserve a say within the subsequent part of rail growth, she mentioned.
Within the hourlong panel dialogue obtainable right here, Karsian and Johnson took on various 2024 rail coverage questions:
- The utmost extra gross sales tax being thought-about for the poll within the 13-county Entrance Vary area can be 0.08 on the greenback, or 8 cents on $100 of spending, Karsian mentioned. Preliminary funding may very well be supplemented by a brand new rental automotive payment into consideration on the state legislature, which might be used as “seed cash” to draw far larger federal matching spending to construct out the strains.
- Preliminary plans for the road from Denver to Boulder, after which northeast diagonally to Longmont, would run three inbound commuter trains within the morning, and three outbound trains within the night. That hall must share service on a observe owned by BNSF, the freight railroad mammoth, and freight rail wants typically take priority on shared strains, Johnson mentioned.
- How the so-called “intercity” trains imagined by Entrance Vary Passenger Rail would work together with RTD’s gentle rail and present commuter rail system is but to be labored out. The completely different modes of rail make use of completely different measurement automobiles, utilizing numerous heights and lengths of platforms, and operating at far completely different speeds and gaps between stops.
- Whereas RTD has had success creating higher fast transit to Boulder with the Flatiron Flyer frequent bus service, bus versus rail shouldn’t be an either-or selection, Johnson mentioned. If only some trains are operating, and solely in a single route, then buses must fill in all of the gaps and run late into the night time. “The bus service truly is supplemental,” Johnson mentioned.
- Entrance Vary proponents are doing “quantitative and qualitative” analysis on what practice service folks pays for, Karsian mentioned. However definitive numerical research on what number of Pueblo or Fort Collins residents would take a practice day by day, or how a lot they’re prepared to pay in fares, received’t be completed till after the board should resolve on a 2024 vote, he added.
The subsequent Entrance Vary district board assembly is April 26.
