Denver Union Station & Fastracks

[incrediculous]

Like Dallas, Denver has undertaken massive new rail development with their Fastracks capital lightrail investment. The feds just approved funding for $2 billion in new Fastracks lines this week, which will make airport connections.

But unlike Dallas, which is already beginning to feel the strain of regional trains clogged in a strangled downtown, Denver has the foresight to make a huge investment in their downtown connections and corridors. They're just wrapping up design work and on a project reconfiguring Denver's historic Union Station neighborhood as a TOD hub of regional bus, commuter rail, Amtrak and light rail connections. It's pretty impressive - here's the latest presentation on the project (PDF) (July 16-2009).

And this isn't some pie in the sky dream. It's on its way to funding. They just received an "investment grade" credit rating. There's little wonder, it looks like a gem of a project.

Screen captures from from PDF presentation:

[msutton]

Damn... Dallas would be lucky to have something like that.

[NThomas]

The neighborhood around there is amazing.

I'd love to see something like this at Dallas Union Station. Maybe with the HSR passing through DTD we'll get a cool cover too.

[I45Tex]

Metro Denver has at least 2.5x smaller office market than the Metroplex, and 2.5x smaller population: lower stakes that make it easier to rejigger the downtown corridors. That it comes across as a major metro is a symptom of what *really* makes it easier there: being the only real "metropolitan" entity in the jurisdiction of every Coloradan state and federal lawmaker and in the entire western Great Plains. Compare that to being the now-slower-growing half of a divided metro region in a state with a vast constellation of metros who are not about to go gaga over Big D's ambitions. Then factor this generation's influx of Californians (to Oregon, to Arizona, to King County, and Idaho, and Colorado, New Mexico and Texas, but greater in proportion with closeness to those former homes and social circles in California) to whom anything will seem a funding bargain compared to what they've fled. A recipe for one urban design sandbox under the current budgetary system.

[electricron]

I'll admit Denver's new Union Station redevelopment looks awesome.

Although I'm not so sure the three to four block walk between the light rail and commuter rail platforms via the bus platforms area will encourage many rail transfers.

Never-the-less, RTD spending way too much cash (close to a $billion) to re-develope this area in downtown Denver may be the reason why they are a $billion short expanding their rail lines as FastTracks planned, especially to the far northern suburbs. What's the point of having several commuter rail platforms at the new Union Station when there won't be any commuter rail lines to the north?

At some point of time, RTD needs to re-evaluate whether they are the transit supplier for Denver's metro area, or the head redeveloper of downtown Denver.....

I much prefer what DART has done. That is to build the rail transit component, preserving Union Station much as it was, and let private developers fight, scratch, and claw over building the TODs near DART's rail stations. Instead of building a solo $billion station, DART has put the money into $billion rail corridors.....