Colorado's governor wants passenger rail vote and mountain trains
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If you ask Colorado's governor, the through line to solving the state's housing, climate and transportation problems is a train track.
Driving the news: Gov. Jared Polis believes now is the moment for Colorado to build high-speed passenger rail lines on existing ones along the Front Range and into the mountains to relieve traffic along the Interstate 25 and 70 corridors.
- The second-term Democrat is pushing for a 2024 ballot measure that asks voters along the Front Range to back a train from Pueblo to Fort Collins at a cost upwards of $14 billion.
- At the same time, the administration is reviving a decades-long discussion for a state-funded train service into the mountains, most likely from Denver to Winter Park and Steamboat Springs, to relieve congestion in the winter and on holiday weekends.
Why it matters: The projects combined would amount to the most significant transportation investments in recent state history, and create a test for the popularity of the governor, mass transit and tax hikes.
What he's saying: "Front Range rail is something I'm very impatient on. This is something we should have had 10 years ago, like more than that," Polis said at SunFest, a recent event hosted by the Colorado Sun. Likewise, mountain train service, "was doable five years ago."
The big picture: Polis sees transit and rail as an opportunity for much more than alleviating clogged highways. He's pitching it as the connector between affordable housing and job centers, as well as a climate solution to remove emissions from gas-powered engines.
The intrigue: Even though these trains would run on existing freight lines, Polis is envisioning a new look for the rail service with passengers riding in electric and hydrogen-powered cars, like one being tested near Pueblo that he recently toured.
Of note: The governor wants to tap some of the $66 billion in the federal infrastructure law to cover the costs. The Front Range Passenger Rail district has applied for federal help and expects to get preliminary word back on its application in November, Colorado Public Radio reports.
Yes, but: Transit officials aren't sure the plans will come together in time for a voter referendum next year.
- Polis "wants us to go to the ballot in 2024. Bless his heart. I don't know if I want that," Andy Karsian, the general manager for the Front Range Passenger Rail District, told the news outlet Governing. "There's a lot of politics that still need to be decided about all of this."