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This Speakout has not been edited

By Robert F. Broom, Aurora City Council member, Ward VI, Aurora

In view of increased construction costs for the Regional Transportation District's FasTracks East Corridor to Denver International Airport, I recommend the airport fund 20 percent of the project to correspond with their share of projected ridership on this line. With proper mass transit, DIA will benefit by increased air traffic generated over time as more conventions book in Denver to take advantage of the reasonably priced rail system that provides easy access to downtown Denver. Also, more businesses will locate in the Aurora-Denver metropolitan area to take advantage of our world-class airport and the ease of accessing the airport that FasTracks will bring.

Employees who work at the airport will have good, inexpensive transportation to their jobs and the need to pave more parking lots near the airport will ease. Instead, this prime real estate can he used for hotels, restaurants, offices and light industrial uses, resulting in an increased tax base for the city and the creation of more jobs. Further, major developers who have requested additional train stations along the east corridor that were not included in the original FasTracks package presented to the voters should be asked to participate in the funding to cover the cost of these new features.

While this approach will not solve shortfalls on other lines, it will allow RTD to move this line forward. It will take a number of ideas, including more federal transit funds, privatization, etc., to complete the system. I would also hope that the RTD Board of Directors does not opt for short-term savings by using diesel engines rather than electric units. The cost and availability of diesel fuel is a real gamble and electric units will create less air pollution. RTD already purchases substantial amounts of diesel fuel for its large bus fleet. It just makes sense to hedge their bets by using electricity that can be first provided by coal plants from the huge deposits in Wyoming and later from nuclear facilities or other technologies. FasTracks has the potential to be a major factor in preventing gridlock on our already overtaxed highway network. We simply must find ways to get it constructed in a timely manner.

READER COMMENTS

FasTrack to DIA? A novel idea but, just another ( in a long line of) Airport construction afterthoughts.

Former Airline employee

Bob:

It's easier for the goverment to assess more taxes from citizens (i.e. increased sales tax) than from itself.

Although, its perfectly logical to have DIA fund some of the costs for public ridership since the benefits obviously accrue to it, that would require the owners (government) to be accountable and responsible to a level well beyond what's necessary.

After all, just keep raising the sales tax every year or two.

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