Commuting Solutions’ 8th Sustainable Transportation Summit on August 27 was a success! We sincerely thank all attendees, speakers, and panelists who gathered to make this event so special. The Longmont Museum and Cultural Center impressed us with beautiful spaces, seamless production, and wonderful staff. We couldn’t have made this happen without our energetic emcee, Kimberlee McKee, guiding the program, and all of our wonderful 2024 sponsors (listed below).
We hope everyone found value in the program and enjoyed the opportunity to catch up with colleagues, make new connections, and partake in some delicious food! Our 2024 Commuting Solutions Sponsors deserve a special thank you for making this event possible!
This year’s theme, “Laying Down Tracks, Making Rail a Reality for Coloradans”, focused on passenger rail progress throughout the state. Thank you to Colorado Governor Jared Polis and CDOT Director Shoshana Lew for your insightful conversation about Colorado’s transportation priorities. Assistant Minority Leader Joe Neguse delivered an excellent opening address after which Longmont Mayor Joan Peck welcomed everyone to the event.
We thank Katie Drewel of Sound Transit for her excellent presentation on the impressive growth and service scope of the public transportation agency serving the Seattle metro area. There is much to learn from those who have gone through the process of building commuter-rail systems, and we appreciate Katie sharing some of the successes and challenges experienced by Sound Transit along the way.
Andy Karsian, General Manager of Front Range Passenger Rail, excelled as the moderator for our expert panel focused on the future of passenger rail in our region. We are grateful to our panelists; Westminster Mayor Nancy McNally, Amtrak’s Dennis Newman, RTD General Manager and CEO Debra A. Johnson, and Chris Nevitt, Board Chair for Front Range Passenger Rail.
The expert panel discussed many of the details around Front Range Passenger Rail (FRPR) service, Northwest Rail, and the timing and funding for each. Partnerships between FRPR, RTD, BNSF, and CDOT were discussed as a solution to moving both projects forward with more efficiency. When speaking about the feasibility of funding for these massive infrastructure projects, Andy Karsian expressed optimism. “The up-front state supported funding [stemming from fees from 2024 state legislation SB-184 and SB-230] is a key component to future success, giving Colorado a competitive edge for further federal funding”.
Understandably, many of the questions from attendees centered around the lack of delivery of Northwest Rail and concern about the commitment of RTD to deliver on this promise. Debra Johnson said that continued conversations and fact-based decision making is important to delivering this service. Part of those “facts” will come from RTD’s Northwest Rail Peak Service Study, which was just completed (September, 2024). This study is part of a continuing collaboration effort between RTD, local transportation partners, and community stakeholders to identify and address mobility solutions for peak period service along the Northwest Rail alignment extending from Westminster Station to Boulder and Longmont. The study has three goals:
- Provide updated engineering plans and cost estimates to determine peak service recommendations
- Establish existing conditions inventory
- Determine requirements to implement peak service operation
- Estimate capital, operations, maintenance costs
- Design in a manner to not preclude future build-out
- Align RTD strategically with the agency’s stated goals of partnering with external stakeholders
Finding a way to knit together a commuter rail service that the voters approved 20 years ago (Northwest Rail), and an inter-city passenger rail service (FRPR) is no small feat. We are so grateful for those pouring energy, creativity, and hours of work into this massive effort to expand passenger rail for Coloradans. We are hopeful and optimistic that, with the support and creativity of all stakeholders and partners, and continued availability of state and federal funding, the people in the northwest metro area will have passenger rail options in their not-so-distant future.
