Anybody recall my pet peeve over infrastructure costs going up due to delays caused by ahem 'special interests'?
This is a little different since we're now into the third decade of planning so you'd expect cost increases. Seems like it started out at $50 million, the $75 million rising to $100-$125 million.
To be fair the East Colfax BRT originally was planned as a simpler curb-side pickup and morphed into dedicated center lanes which I like. So where are we now?
https://denverite.com/2021/08/31/colfax-brt-denver-bus/
Quote:
Denver has raised $55 million for the project through the Elevate Denver Bond, which voters approved in 2017. The overall price tag could be between $200 million and $300 million in 2021 dollars, RTD’s letter to the FTA says. That’s significantly higher than the $168 million estimate Denverite reported in 2017.
“The construction estimate is higher because construction costs have increased since 2017,” Nancy Kuhn, spokesperson for Denver’s Department of Transportation and Infrastructure wrote in an email to Denverite.
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I can recall
Cirrus arguing correctly about the challenges.
Quote:
A few key factors are contributing to the long wind-up, said Brian Pinkerton, principal project manager for the city.
First, the street itself is owned by the state Department of Transportation; the city and county do much of the maintenance on the road, and RTD operates the transit service. All those cooks in the kitchen means lots of coordination and planning is necessary.
“…agreement on the specifics of a complete reconfiguration of this road is much more complicated than if it was a city street controlled completely by Denver,” he wrote in an email to Denverite.
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It's a bit unique that I would agree with Jill Locantore.
Quote:
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“It is truly ridiculous how long it can take to just dedicate some space for buses on a city street and provide some dignified accommodations for people riding the bus,” Locantore tweeted. “I’m sure we could figure out how to do this faster, if people in positions of power actually cared.”
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Well, I can't say I'd agree with Jill's snarkiness.
Note: The reason I don't mind getting rid of one traffic lane in each direction is simple. I've seen the people who drive up and down Colfax and I don't like them.