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FUNDING T-REX was funded using no new or increased taxes. laws enacted in 1992, and the leadership's stance against levvying additional taxes on its constituents. Bill Owens Memorial Highway? Why not?, http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/business_columnists/article/0,1299,DRMN_82_5260446,00.html In November 1999, Denver voters approved two bond issues that partially funded the project and endorsed the addition of light rail through the southeast corridor.
HISTORY T-REX's initial footsteps can be traced back to a 1992 Traffic Congestion study commissioned by the Denver Regional Council Of Governments ( DRCOG ). The study found that traffic volume along the corridor had exceeded its maximum capacity of 180,000 vehicles per day and, within a few years, the freeway would be near gridlock most of the day. Adding to the gloomy forecast of gridlock, planners projected that 150,000 new jobs would be added in the downtown area and at the huge Denver Tech Center, which is 15 miles (24 kilometers) to the south, over the next 20 years. The study not only recommended widening the freeway by several lanes, but it also suggested incorporating some type of Mass Transit into any future improvements. Planning for the project began in June 1999, with the passage of a law allowing the state Department of Transportation (CDOT) to use Transportation Revenue Anticipation Notes to borrow money based on federal funds the state had not yet approved. , the Denver Regional Transportation District (RTD), the Federal Highway Administration and the Federal Transit Administration signed agreements to work on the project, and in November, voters approved the plan to run light rail through the corridor. Southeast Corridor Constructors, a joint venture between Omaha, Neb.-based Kiewit Construction and New York-based Parsons Transportation Group , won a Design-build contract in May 2001, and construction began one month later. The project involved 17 miles of highway improvements along Interstate 25 and Interstate 225 , from adding extra lanes to completely redesigning certain interchanges. At the same time, 13 new light-rail stations were built, along with a 125,000-square-foot facility for maintaining 34 new light-rail vehicles from Sacramento, Calif.-based Siemens Transportation Systems . About 40 miles of new track connects the stations, some of which were made with 7,000 tons of steel recycled from the old Mile High Stadium . T-REX's five-year Design-build project added 19 miles of light rail and improved 17 miles of highway through southeast Denver , Aurora , Greenwood Village , Centennial and Lone Tree . The unprecedented project is the result of a unique collaboration between the Colorado Department of Transportation, the Regional Transportation District, which is responsible for transit service in the metro Denver area, the Federal Highway Administration and the Federal Transit Administration. Construction began in Fall 2001 and construction ended in December 2006, 22 months ahead of the original schedule. Additionally, light rail service along the Southeast Corridor began in late 2006. In April 1995, The Colorado Department of Transportation and RTD took the first step toward developing the partnership that ultimately became T-REX. The two agencies and DRCOG commissioned the Southeast Corridor Major Investment Study (MIS), which sought the best solutions to the I-25/I-225 congestion problem. Arapahoe and Douglas counties and the cities of Denver, Aurora, and Greenwood Village also participated in the MIS . Two other Denver-area corridor studies were also undertaken. An important element of the MIS process was the early formation of two committees-- A Policy Committee provided input on policy-related issues and monitored project progress relative to the overall public agency decision-making process, and a Technical Committee focused on all planning, engineering and environmental issues and assisted in the development and refinement of alternatives. Members of this committee were individuals from the various cities and jurisdictions within the study area who had a technical background. US Department Of Transportation , Environmental Review Toolkit, 'Transportation Expansion (T-REX) Multi-Modal Transportation Project' http://www.environment.fhwa.dot.gov/strmlng/casestudies/co.asp The two committees used project goals to refine and evaluate each alternative. Public meetings and numerous workshops were held during NEPA (National Environmental Policy Act) scoping and at key Milestones during the study to present the definition of alternatives and to guide the Colorado Department of Transportation and RTD in the development and evaluation of any Preferred Alternatives. A project newsletter was published at key project milestones to keep the public informed. The committees remained intact during the NEPA and preliminary engineering process, and monthly meetings were held to keep them involved. This also helped with maintaining a constant public process and ongoing relations with the public. Committee members primarily consisted of elected and/or appointed policy/decision-making officials from the affected areas., all four agencies in June 1998 signed a "partnering charter" that created a leadership team to identify and pursue the best multimodal solutions. In November 1998, DRCOG adopted Metro Vision 2020, the Denver area's 20-year regional transportation plan. T-REX was a top priority in the plan. "We looked at ways to break down the highway vs. transit rivalry and started looking at mobility," RTD Director, Cal Marsella said. "Let's look at highway and transit as coordinated pieces of a comprehensive strategy to maximize mobility in a project with limited available right of way. We set our sights on a project that was a win-win (proposition) for both transit and highway. What emerged was the T-REX project." US Department Of Transportation , Environmental Review Toolkit, 'Transportation Expansion (T-REX) Multi-Modal Transportation Project' http://www.environment.fhwa.dot.gov/strmlng/casestudies/co.asp A "partnering agreement" was signed by all stakeholders that established four goals:
CDOT and RTD next assembled a project team that was housed in one location. At the same time, top management from all four agencies began meeting every two weeks. The purpose of the senior-level meetings was "not just to get briefings," said Chick Dolby, Federal Transit Administration deputy regional administrator, "but to do the planning and make decisions." Two years later, DRCOG adopted the MIS recommendations, which included the 19 miles of double-track light rail and 13 stations with the track running next to or in the median of I-25 and I-225. On the highway side, while the report recommended major safety improvements such as acceleration and deceleration lanes and wider shoulders, it did not call for additional lanes. FHWA and CDOT were troubled by the omission, and leaders of all four agencies agreed that the MIS placed too much emphasis on transit. "We weren't going to spend over a billion dollars on this project without involving more highway capacity. It couldn't be a predominantly transit project," Said Bill Jones, the Federal Highway Administration's Colorado Division administrator. "This was the turning point when we realized together that the transit part of the project couldn't be built without the highway part."Public Roads Magazine Federal Highway Administration , http://www.tfhrc.gov/pubrds/septoct01/trex.htm TIMELINE
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UNIQUE APPROACH, AND SUCCESS IN "DESIGN BUILD" METHODOLOGY T-REX is one of a few transportation projects to use a Design-build contract in which the same Contractor is responsible for the project's engineering and construction. Under a Design-build contract, the contracting agency provides a general concept of the plan, and the contractor is responsible for most of the details, many of which are worked out as the project proceeds. “We think, based on our research, that it's the largest transportation Design-build project in the country,” says Richard Clarke, T-REX project director. “We were able to get it done a lot faster because we finished a lot of the construction before the design was completely done.” T-REX also is unique by combining Light Rail , Highway , Bike , Pedestrian and other transit options, the project used a Multi-modal approach to address some of the traffic problems. The multi-agency cooperation created an effective and efficient partnership. When all of these agencies worked together, they realized this complex project needed innovative approaches, which is why they picked Design-build . SUCCESS METRICS Design-build allowed for flexibility and creativity in support of the project goals, which were:
T-Rex officials put community first, by no accident. While cost, schedule and quality are all very important they are meaningless if the project brings the metro area to its knees. There's no denying that construction activity affects traffic, but contractors were held accountable for doing their best to make it as painless as possible. This meant that the project was regularity worked on during off hours between 9pm and 5am. But the aggressive approach to the project schedule meant it was finished 22 months ahead of the original schedule. FINANCIAL BENEFITS With 46 million annual passenger-miles on Denver's LightRail system, RTD and taxpayers are saving $10.6 million per year with the current LightRail lines – about a dollar per passenger. T-Rex LRT lines, opened in November, "will more than double that" RTD Director, Cal Marsella predicted. Denver people are now also saving about 1.5 million gallons of motor fuel and related air pollution that is worth about $4 million per year. June 2006 issue of Mass Transit magazine. Paraphrased at http://www.lightrailnow.org/news/n_lrt_2007-03a.htm#DEN_20060908 QUALITY OF LIFE BENEFITS
'' Please elaborate. '' TANGIBLE BENEFITS
On Interstate 25 Additional benefits to roadways were:
On Interstate 225 T-REX's Benefits were:
MODEL FOR OTHER CITIES Representatives from the Arizona Department Of Transportation , the Maricopa Association of Governments and the Valley Metro Rail system in Phoenix observed T-REX. Phoenix is in the early stages of a similar project on its Interstate 10 corridor, one that also involves expanding the highway and building more rail lines, says Wulf Grote, director of project development for Valley Metro Rail. “We hoped the trip to Denver would spark some discussion on working together,” Grote says. While Phoenix 's light-rail project will not be complete until around 2019, the highway improvements are supposed to be finished in the next five years. Like T-Rex, Valley Metro wants to run its rail lines in the highway's right-of-way. Valley Metro Board meeting minutes Feb 21 2007, http://www.valleymetro.org/METRO_light_rail/About_Light_Rail/Board_of_Directors/Minutes/022107%20Board%20Meeting%20Minutes%20-%20Fin.pdf The Utah Department of Transportation's work on expanding Interstate 15 in Salt Lake City, another Design-build project, was a model for T-REX. The 2002 Olympics are transforming Salt Lake City, New York Times, http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9E03E2D61130F93AA35752C1A961958260&sec=&spon=&pagewanted=print That project also required collaboration between UDOT and the Utah Transit Authority (UTA) because it combined a light-rail project with the roadwork, says Doug Dansie, principal planner for the Salt Lake City Planning Department. “ rail lines were built because just expanding the freeway wasn't enough to handle the [commuter] capacity,” Dansie says. Those rail lines, unlike T-REX, were not in the interstate's right-of-way. Dansie believes projects like T-REX that combine traffic and highway expansion are probably the best approach to relieving congestion, though there is currently a bias toward road expansion. “It really does need to be a balance,” Dansie said. ARGUMENT FOR LIGHTRAIL INSTEAD OF HOV LANES Light rail transit was endorsed because of the following reasons noted in the T-REX factbook:T-REX Factbook- Project Background Page 6, http://web.archive.org/web/20041111094231/trexproject.com/trex_content/about/trex_2003_factbook.pdf
Additionally, Denver Mayor, John Hickenlooper says transit systems like Light Rail offer a good solution to Congestion because, even if you add more highway lanes, they quickly are filled with more cars. ''“You can add more and more traffic to the rail line, and not only does it not slow down, it takes more people,” ''he says. ''"Combining rail lines with highway expansion has a lot of appeal to voters, but the ability to do so depends on the amount of space available for the project." '' Hickenlooper said. CITED WORKS http://www.irfnews.org/trex_press_release.htm http://www.orcharddevelopmentgroup.com/news_denverpost_101706.htm http://www.environment.fhwa.dot.gov/strmlng/casestudies/co.asp http://ops.fhwa.dot.gov/congestion_report_04/chapter4.htm http://www.tfhrc.gov/pubrds/septoct01/trex.htm http://www.lsgallegos.com/featured_project_trans_support.htm http://www.constructor.construction.com/coverStories/default.asp http://www.transportation1.org/tif1report/expansion.html http://www.lightrailnow.org/news/n_lrt_2007-03a.htm http://americancityandcounty.com/features/government_parallel_tracks/ http://web.archive.org/web/20040806063348/www.trexproject.com/trex_channels/about/factbook.asp http://web.archive.org/web/20040806064107/www.trexproject.com/trex_channels/about/introduction.asp http://www.denvergov.org/CouncilDistrict7/tabid/425111/Default.aspx http://web.archive.org/web/20040806063348/http://www.trexproject.com/trex_content/about/trex_2003_factbook.pdf REFERENCES |
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