Tag: FASTRACKS

DENVER—In an upbeat State of the State address Monday, Mayor Michael Hancock expressed a vision where the key to bolstering quality of life here was to facilitate connections, between different kinds of residents and different parts of the city and, in an era when the public sector has come under attack, he underlined the powerful role government can play in the critical areas of transit and infrastructure and housing.

U.S. Secretary of Transportation Ray LaHood and Federal Transit Administration Administrator Peter Rogoff are in Arvada today to announce a major funding agreement for the RTD FasTracks lines to Denver International Airport and to Arvada and Wheat Ridge.

U.S. Senators Mark Udall and Michael Bennet announced today that the Denver Regional Transportation District will receive funding grants for FasTracks – as promised in the Obama Administration’s budget proposal. The grants are from a pool of $1.6 billion approved by Congress this year. The West, Gold and East lines each are slated to receive $40 million.

Lawmakers and policy people who advance private-sector solutions for public-service needs talk about competition-- competition like maybe the kind we got with the Colorado...

The Denver Community Planning and Development Department will begin to introduce its proposed new zoning code to officials and area residents this month, a process that will continue through the fall and that will include public meetings and presentations in neighborhoods throughout the city.

It’s still unclear just how much of the $90.2 million in federal stimulus money headed Colorado’s way for urban transit will go to RTD’s FasTracks commuter and light-rail, but what is abundantly clear is it won’t be enough.

Local rail and public transit enthusiasts are in for a cold slap of reality after the historic signing of the $787 billion economic recovery plan. During Tuesday's visit to Denver with President Barack Obama, Vice President Joe Biden said the federal stimulus bill will be a big boost to mass transit in the United States, with funding impacts for commuter rail projects from Colorado to Amtrak's Northeast Corridor.