BY J. PATRICK O'LEARY
You may not have noticed, but early construction has started on the Gold Line, the 11.2-mile electric commuter rail line between Denver Union Station and Ward Road in Wheat Ridge, part of the Regional Transportation District’s FasTracks project. Full construction – roadbed, track, structures – won’t start until late summer or fall.
Final design has been underway since August 2010, but construction could not begin until receipt of a $1.03 billion federal grant, which was announced at the Gold Line groundbreaking in Arvada four months ago, according to Kevin Flynn, Public Information Manager for the project.
“The early construction consists of utility relocations,” says Flynn. “Two such pieces of work have been completed on Denver Water lines in the section of the project that is shared with the Northwest Rail in Denver. These were near 38th Avenue and Fox Street, and 48th Avenue and Fox Street. Water line relocation is underway on other locations on 48th Avenue and on the site of the former Denver Post printing plant. Demolition of buildings, including one already taken down on the old Post plant property, will continue this quarter. In the near term, these will be in the Denver portion of the line.”
Crews will begin moving wastewater and gas lines in the path of the new tracks in the next three months. Sixty utility relocations will be performed as part of the project.
RTD will begin the process of acquiring right-of-way from private property owners as well.
“There are a total of 96 parcels on the Gold Line, 44 of which have been acquired from either the railroads or the cities and Adams County,” says Flynn, “but the other 52 parcels are privately owned. RTD has assembled updated legal descriptions for appraisers to start the acquisition process and notices of intent to acquire are ready to be mailed to the first set of owners, including parcels at the Ward Road and Arvada Ridge stations.”
The Gold Line generally follows the path of the freight railroads north out of Denver Union Station to Utah Junction, east of 60th Avenue and Pecos Street, where it turns west and follows the BNSF Railway line into Olde Town Arvada and on to Wheat Ridge. There are seven stations on the Gold Line in addition to the terminal at Denver Union Station. They are at 41st Avenue and Fox Street, Pecos, Federal, Sheridan, Olde Town, Arvada Ridge and Ward Road.
The opening of the Gold Line is scheduled for summer 2016, and the current schedule has trains operating every 15 minutes in each direction throughout the day between 6 a.m. and 7 p.m., and every 30 minutes between 4 and 6 a.m. and from 7 p.m. to midnight.
For more information, visit www.rtd-fastracks.com or call the project hotline, 303-299-2000.