Colorado governor wants passenger rail from Denver to Steamboat, Craig to be ‘envy of the world’
State sen. Dylan Roberts says the project could be operational in about five years
Elliott Wenzler/The Vail Daily
DENVER — Days after the federal government announced it selected Colorado’s Front Range passenger rail line for grant funding, Gov. Jared Polis spoke about his hopes for how that project would link up with another planned passenger rail line in the mountains.
The planned mountain line would modify the already-existing passenger line from Denver to Winter Park and extend it to Steamboat Springs, Hayden and finally Craig.
Polis mentioned the project as part of his overall vision for the state’s expanded passenger rail lines during a Monday panel discussion at his residence. He was joined by Colorado Department of Transportation Executive Director Shoshana Lew and Amit Bose, administrator of the Federal Railroad Administration.
Polis said his administration is working on developing a plan for the mountain rail project so the trip from Denver to Craig can be “the envy of the world.”
While Polis has advocated for a 2024 ballot measure along the Front Range to help fund a passenger line connecting Fort Collins to Pueblo, he said Monday he doesn’t plan to ask the same of the mountain communities. While the two projects will be connected, they will be developed separately, he said.
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“These are not in our state competing against one another, they both augment one another,” Polis said Monday.
2024 legislative session
The infrastructure for the mountain rail line already exists and is currently used for coal transportation. But as the region moves away from the coal industry, the plan is for the rail line to transition to a mix of commercial freight and passenger rail.
State Sen. Dylan Roberts — who represents Clear Creek, Gilpin, Grand, Jackson, Moffat, Rio Blanco, Routt and Summit counties and parts of Eagle and Garfield counties — said he plans to sponsor a bill during the 2024 legislative session to incentivize private companies to use the freight line.
“The federal government’s not going to fund the entire thing,” Roberts said. “But what we can do is put in place funding mechanisms or tax incentives, or a combination of those that make a federal match very attractive.”
Finding a way to use state funds that can then be matched by federal dollars for the project is likely to be a focus during the next legislative session, Roberts said.
In September, Roberts and State Rep. Meghan Lukens, D-Steamboat Springs, sent a letter to the Colorado Department of Transportation requesting that the agency “expedite” the creation of a Service Development Plan for the route. That plan, which Roberts hopes will be completed in the next few months, will outline the costs for the route transition.
Beyond the service plan, organizers will also need to secure physical trains for the project. The extended line would likely be operated in different cars and trains than the Denver to Winter Park line, Roberts said.
Federal funding impacts
Roberts said a realistic timeline for the passenger rail line to be operational is by about 2027 or 2028.
It’s possible that the line could be developed further to connect to Eagle County as well, as the rail infrastructure already exists, Roberts said. That addition would only come after the development of the line to Craig, however.
After years of talks about a passenger rail line in the mountains, many communities are on the same page on how to get it done, the state senator said.
“The full agreement from ski communities like Winter Park and Steamboat to coal-impacted communities like Hayden and Craig is remarkable in my opinion, and I think, a really unique opportunity to get this done,” he said.
Lukens, who represents Moffat, Rio Blanco, Routt and Eagle counties, will also sponsor the tax incentive bill, she said.
“It’s consistently a number one topic that I’m hearing from constituents,” she said about the rail line. “It’s something that they’re very excited about, especially because it would really support our workforce. There are around 3,000 people traveling between Craig, Hayden and Steamboat and back each day for work.”
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Through its initial grant to Colorado, President Joe Biden’s administration has signaled more dollars could be coming to the state.
“I really want to emphasize this: At the federal government, we’re really, really looking for corridors. We’re not just looking for individual piecemeal projects,” Bose said.
The potential for cash infusions from the $1 trillion Bipartisan Instructure Bill signed in 2021 comes as Polis has prioritized housing affordability in Colorado, something he says hinges upon better transit options.
“For transit-oriented neighborhoods, we also need transit. And one of those key aspects of transit that Coloradans haven’t been able to avail themselves of is passenger rail,” Polis said.
Polis called the lines in the mountains and the Front Range “linchpins” in the pursuit of his goals for affordability, air quality, climate and sustainability.
Earlier this year, a bill backed by Polis, which would have boosted development in transit corridors, died in the Colorado legislature. A new version of the transit-oriented development bill will likely be introduced during the 2024 legislative session, which begins in January and lasts until early May.
Leaders of the Democratic-controlled legislature have signaled they’re in agreement with Polis on the focus of transit.
“I think five to 10 years from now, my hope, is that Colorado transportation is going to look dramatically different,” Senate President Steve Fenberg said Monday at the governor’s residence.
