FasTracks gets $4.5M from feds
Denver Business Journal - by Cathy Proctor
It’s just $4.5 million, embedded in the $447 billion federal spending bill that the U.S. Senate approved this week.
But it’s the first federal financial support for two major lines in the Regional Transportation District’s troubled FasTracks transit project, agency officials said.
The federal omnibus spending measure included $2.5 million for FasTracks’ East corridor from downtown to Denver International Airport. It also included $2 million for the Gold line from downtown to Wheat Ridge, according to Colorado Sens. Mark Udall and Michael Bennet, both Democrats.
RTD seeks up to $1 billion in federal funding to help pay for the East and Gold lines. The spending bill must be signed by President Barack Obama, which a White House official on Monday said is likely.
“It’s very important to us,” said Sherry Ellebracht, head of government relations for RTD. “It’s the signal that it sends that the federal government is interested in those corridors, that they believe in those corridors and that an FFGA [Full Funding Grant Agreement] will be in the works.
“Even though it’s a small amount in the grand scheme of things, it’s the intent. That’s why we’re so thrilled to get the money.”
The spending bill also included $90 million for FasTracks’ West Corridor, part of the $308 million FFGA in place between RTD and the Federal Transit Authority.
Also, the federal legislation has $2.6 million for the Colorado Association of Transit Agencies to expand services, Udall and Bennet said.
The U.S. House of Representatives version of the federal spending measure didn’t include money for FasTracks’ East and Gold lines, Ellebracht said.
But in the U.S. Senate, Udall and Bennet pushed to include funding for the two lines. Their effort survived a conference committee between the House and Senate to eliminate differences between the two versions, Ellebracht said.
“Denver-area voters spoke up when they supported FasTracks,” Udall said in an announcement. “I was proud to fight for the funding that is now headed to the president’s desk — it will help expand regional mass transit, create jobs, reduce traffic and provide commuters with cleaner, more-efficient ways to get to work every day.”
Said Bennett in the statement: “Coloradans expressed their overwhelming support for more light-rail service several years ago, and this funding will help meet their demand for greater choice in their transportation options.”
The East and Gold lines combined are estimated to cost about $2.3 billion. RTD has said it hopes to pay for the lines through up to $1 billion in federal funding, plus an additional nearly $1 billion from a team of private companies that will design, build, operate, maintain and finance the lines. The companies’ bids are due in March 2010.
Two companies are working on bids: Denver Transit Partners, which includes the internationally known Fluor Corp. engineering firm and the Australian Macquarie bank; and Mountain Air Transit Partners, which has companies ranging from the Denver office of Peter Kiewit and Sons to London-based HSBC bank.
A third team, called Mile High Transit, which includes Englewood’s CH2M Hill Cos. Ltd. and Longmont’s Flatiron Corp., has dropped out, telling RTD it couldn’t complete a competitive bid by the deadline.
FasTracks is a 12-year, $6.9 billion construction project to lay more than 100 miles of rail lines throughout the Denver area. In 2008, RTD estimated there was a $2.2 billion gap between expected revenue and skyrocketing costs. The agency expects to present updated cost and revenue projections in early January.
cproctor@bizjournals.com