B Line Commuter Rail Extension Gets a Green Light in Colorado

"The Regional Transportation District will restart planning of its long-delayed commuter rail line between Denver, Boulder and Longmont, with a focus on a bare-bones version that could get rolling sooner," reports Nathanial Minor.

"The planning work is meant to capitalize on the possibility that RTD could receive federal funding through President Joe Biden’s recent infrastructure proposal," adds Minor. A similar sentiment was voiced by Oregon Department of Transportation recently while accelerating planning for a pedestrian bridge connecting West Linn and Oregon City outside of Portland.

The B Line, as the Denver-Boulder-Longmont route is called, has connected Denver to Westminster since 2016, but plans to extend the route, included in the 2004 FasTracks expansion plan, have been on hold until recently. Colorado Gov. Jared Polis began pressuring the RTD to accelerate the dormant plan for the B Line extension in February of this year.

"The new planning work will be aimed at building a stripped down service plan — three trains to Denver in the morning, and three to Boulder and Longmont in the evening — meant to cut costs," according to Minor.