Grade Crossings Racking Up Costs on Denver's New A-Line

In a region with a full calendar of transit construction projects and high hopes for a positive stream of news, a premier and historic project has not gone as smoothly as hoped.

1 minute read

April 10, 2017, 9:00 AM PDT

By James Brasuell @CasualBrasuell


Grade Crossing

Jeffrey Beall / Flickr

John Aguilar reports: "The price tag to man the 11 at-grade crossings along the 23-mile train route out to Denver International Airport since it opened a year ago: nearly $6 million and counting, according to calculations made by The Denver Post."

The high price tag isn't being paid by taxpayers (the Regional Transportation District's private sector partner Denver Transit Partners gets that privilege), but it's "perhaps the most visible and vexing sign that the state’s pre-eminent transit project has had a far rockier rollout than many had hoped."

Moreover, the problems with the gates have "ripple effects" to other parts of the RTD's capital investment program. According to Aguilar, "[a]s long as hang-ups persist with the timing of the gates that stop motorists from driving onto the tracks, there can be no progress on opening the G-Line to the western suburbs."

The cost comes from stationing officers in both the Denver and Aurora police departments at the crossings, as well as flaggers. RTD and Denver Transit Partners officials have not set any timetable for the reduction of staffing requirements at the A-Line's grade crossings.

Sunday, April 9, 2017 in The Denver Post

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