Light Rail in Denver: Worth the Time, or a Waste?

The Denver Metro Area was buzzing three weeks ago on November 19, 2006 with the grand opening of the South East Light Rail. This rail system was seven years in the making, being combined with the massive T-Rex project which updated the city's I-25 corridor. After T-Rex and the nod from voters in 2005, the South East Light Rail was a reality, but was it worth the expense?

The tracks extend from downtown Denver all the way to Aurora, Littleton and Highlands Ranch, and while some commuters have seen their commute times shorten, others have had significant time added to their routes. For instance, for those commuters coming into Lower Downtown from Parker, the bus route they had been using for years has been discontinued. So instead of a straight express route into work, they now must drive to a park and ride, catch a bus to the train and possibly another bus from one of the multitude of train stops to their destination. Waiting for the bus, and then waiting for the train can add many minutes on to an already packed commute.

Commuters, such as Denise B from Littleton, likes the new rail system, but says, "the amount of stops from Lincoln to Downtown has increased my travel time." Donna, from Aurora, takes the new H line into work. Her only concern is that the busses that were added to connect to the light rail stations do not run as often as the trains, so you end up waiting for the bus to simply make a connection to the train.

The new light rail customers may want to take the advice of the Highlands Ranch commuters. They have been using the light rail system since July 14, 2000, and they typically drive to the park and rides which connect directly with the train. For the Parker commuters, this would mean driving directly to the Nine Mile or Dayton stations and bypassing the connecting busses.

When the Southeast Light Rail system came online, RTD cancelled or dramatically changed many bus routes that had been in place, relying heavily on the new light rail to take up the slack. While new bus routes were also added, these were in place to take commuters from park n rides to major train stations such as Lincoln and Nine Mile.

Going forward, RTD has plans for three more light rail lines through the Fast Tracks program. First, the Gold Line, according to RTD, "is a proposed 11.2-mile rail transit corridor from Denver Union Station to the vicinity of Ward Road, passing through northwest Denver, unincorporated Adams County, Arvada and Wheat Ridge". Second, the North Metro Corridor "is a proposed 18-mile rail transit corridor between Denver Union Station and 162nd Avenue, passing through Denver, Commerce City, Thornton, Northglenn and unincorporated Adams County." And third is the Northwest Rail Corridor which "is a proposed 38.1-mile commuter rail corridor from Denver Union Station to Longmont via Boulder, passing through Westminster, Broomfield, Superior, Louisville, Boulder, Niwot and Longmont." See www.rtd-denver.com for more information.