RTD Gathers Feedback on Northwest Rail Study

The Regional Transportation District (RTD) held an open house in Gunbarrel on Jan. 31 to gauge citizens' reactions and thoughts about the feasibility study regarding commuter rail service between Denver and Longmont.

Northwest Rail is the long-promised provision for rail service from Denver to Boulder and Longmont that voters approved as part of the FasTracks transit expansion in 2004. FasTracks has provided 25 miles of light rail and 53 miles of commuter rail, but has yet to reach Boulder and Longmont. The Northwest Rail line is in service from Denver's Union Station to Westminster, but ends at W. 71st Street and Federal Boulevard.

The current iteration of the rail solution is called the Northwest Rail Peak Service. It would use the existing Burlington Northern Santa Fe (BNSF) railway and would be called "commuter rail" in contrast with "light rail" because it uses existing heavy rail lines which are primarily used to transport freight. It was green-lighted by the RTD board of directors at their meeting in April 2021. The study will take two years to complete.

The Northwest Rail Peak Service Study focuses on completing the line from Westminster through Boulder to the end of the line in Longmont.

The open house began with opening remarks from RTD Board Chair Lynn Guissinger and RTD Study Manager Patrick Stanley. Guissinger represents District O, which includes Niwot.

The conference room at the Hampton Inn in Gunbarrel was arrayed with posters about aspects of the study and related infrastructure and projects. Each poster had an RTD staff member or collaborating organization member present to answer questions from the public. The room was filled with the buzz of many conversations. The open house was well attended with citizens from Boulder, Longmont and Niwot.

Niwotian Eve Lempriere said, "I wanted to see what happened with the FasTracks program and understand what this study is for and if we're moving forward on the whole project." Lempriere continued, "I'm excited to see we are doing some good research and there is good information. I am disappointed to see that Niwot is not included ... and Gunbarrel is not either."

Boulder County Commissioner Claire Levy was asked about the role of Boulder County in this study. "We don't have a direct role in this peak rail study or in actually bringing this rail project online," Levy responded. "I am here to hear what people are concerned about."

RTD Community Engagement specialist Brandon Figliolino addressed the constraints that this feasibility study is under. "The study is looking at all the infrastructure improvements that would need to happen such as the buildout of the stations as well as freight siding tracks and at grade crossing enhancements," Figliolino said. Figliolino noted that there was not a time constraint for the duration of each train trip and it did not determine how the train station locations were decided.

RTD assistant general manager for capital programs Henry Stopplecamp was asked about the lack of a stop in Niwot in the current study. "Full buildout I believe has a station for Niwot. It was discussed originally in EIS [Environmental Impact Statement] back in 2011," Stopplecamp said. "As far as additional stops, that would be determined at a later phase. The goal is to go for the full buildout."

In response to a question about adding more daily trips, Stopplecamp said, "One of the reasons we went with three [trips] in the morning and three in the afternoon is to minimize the input and infrastructure requirement with BNSF. If we add another trip we will have to do more improvements on the BNSF, so it cascades out from there."

More information about the project and this event can be found in RTD's project website at:

https://www.rtd-denver.com/projects/northwest-rail-peak-service-study.