Kiewit to build Denver Light Rail expansion

the1wags · Post by **the1wags** » Wed Jul 11, 2012 2:04 pm

I didn't know if this should go in business or here or elsewhere? Anyways...

Kiewit has been recommended to build Denver's I-225 section of the light rail expansion. 10.5 mile expansion, with Kiewet's bid being $350M.

This expansion would link Aurora to the existing line at the south end and the north end to the under construction east corridor that will serve downtown Denver to DIA.

Links to the press release and a Denver Post article.

http://www.rtd-fastracks.com/main_259

http://www.denverpost.com/news/ci_21048 ... light-rail

Good news for Denver and Omaha. :cheers:

thenewguy · Post by **thenewguy** » Wed Jul 11, 2012 8:08 pm

Better news if they were connecting omaha and council bluffs by LRT ;)

bigredmed · Post by **bigredmed** » Thu Jul 12, 2012 7:45 am

The libertarian magazine Reason, published yesterday an article about light rail in LA that should be required reading for the users of this site. Â Their light rail system costs so much money that they have had to cut bus routes that the poor depend on to get to work and shopping. Â All so they can have a total daily usage of their light rail of 39,000 people a day. Â Compared to the 160,000 people who rode their former bus routes each day. Â In other words, for each rider on the light rail, 4 people have been screwed over. Â AND the rest ofthe people in LA have the privilege of paying for a light rail system that not even 0.1% of their population uses. Â Yeah!

http://reason.com/archives/2012/07/11/h ... s-the-poor[/url]

iamjacobm · Post by **iamjacobm** » Thu Jul 12, 2012 8:40 am

bigredmed wrote:The libertarian magazine Reason, published yesterday an article about light rail in LA that should be required reading for the users of this site. Their light rail system costs so much money that they have had to cut bus routes that the poor depend on to get to work and shopping. All so they can have a total daily usage of their light rail of 39,000 people a day. Compared to the 160,000 people who rode their former bus routes each day. In other words, for each rider on the light rail, 4 people have been screwed over. AND the rest ofthe people in LA have the privilege of paying for a light rail system that not even 0.1% of their population uses. Yeah!

http://reason.com/archives/2012/07/11/h ... s-the-poor[/url]

The argument could be made to start your alternative transit options long before you have to serve 13 million people as well. Â Cutting inner city bus service for a suburban rail line that hardly gets used isn't the right way to do transit though.

Post by **Brad** » Thu Jul 12, 2012 10:11 am

Just like Omaha and a lot of other cities, LA had a great street car line back in the day... Â http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Los_Angeles_Railway

TitosBuritoBarn · Post by **TitosBuritoBarn** » Thu Jul 12, 2012 1:09 pm

bigredmed wrote:The libertarian magazine Reason, published yesterday an article about light rail in LA that should be required reading for the users of this site. Their light rail system costs so much money that they have had to cut bus routes that the poor depend on to get to work and shopping. All so they can have a total daily usage of their light rail of 39,000 people a day. Compared to the 160,000 people who rode their former bus routes each day. In other words, for each rider on the light rail, 4 people have been screwed over. AND the rest ofthe people in LA have the privilege of paying for a light rail system that not even 0.1% of their population uses. Yeah!

http://reason.com/archives/2012/07/11/h ... s-the-poor[/url]

http://la.curbed.com/archives/2012/05/a ... gh_yet.php

Are People Riding the Expo Line? Yes, But Not Enough Yet

For some, the new Expo Line light rail has been a blessing. Others are complaining that it's too slow, hitting too many traffic lights when it reaches Downtown (some finicky Angelenos also aren't happy the rail cars don't look new enough--some are old Blue Line cars). Ostensibly, a ride from La Cienega in Baldwin Hills to the Seventh Street subway station Downtown should take 26 minutes, but many are saying it's sometimes a half hour or more. At yesterday's Expo Construction Authority Board meeting, County Supervisor Zev Yaroslavsky said he was pushing Metro to work closer with the LADOT to synchronize traffic lights so trains move up and down Downtown's Flower Street faster. He also announced that Monday's ridership was 9,000. Sounds bad, but there're a few things to remember. One, the Gold Line eastside extension also opened to small numbers in 2009, but grows every month. Before the six mile extension opened, the Gold Line was getting a blip over 20,000 riders on an average workday--the extension has helped the Gold Line double ridership and it hit a record in March with 43,136 daily riders.

Back to Expo--with all the line's delays, it can be safely assumed that many don't even know it's operating yet. The route also hasn't opened its Culver City or Farmdale stations, which should goose ridership when they debut next month. Expo Construction CEO Rick Thorpe noted that dozens of teens from the Foshay Learning Center are boarding this week at the Western Ave. station, a good sign that Farmdale High School's students and staff will bring more riders. Meanwhile, Streetsblog took a night ride on Expo last night and said the cars were mostly full at 9:30 p.m. "I mean, it wasn't Red or Blue Line-full, but there was at least one rider on each side in every row of seats," writes the site's Sahra Sulaiman.

Curbed also inquired with Caltrans and Metro about why there are no freeway signs on the 10 indicating to drivers that they have an alternative to rush hour traffic. Metro is now looking into it. Hopefully, more news on that soon.

Stargazer · Post by **Stargazer** » Tue Jul 17, 2012 5:57 pm

Meanwhile, let's build a high speed rail line to Las Vegas.

the1wags · Post by **the1wags** » Tue Jul 24, 2012 10:53 pm

Official.

"Kiewit says it will complete the light rail line for a fixed price of $350 million by November 2015."

"Kiewit Infrastructure Inc, a division of Omaha, Neb.-based Kiewit Corp., led the design-build construction team on the T-REX project, which widened I-25 and build a rail line next to the highway south of downtown Denver.
Kiewit is also currently building the rail lines and bus station at Denver Union Station, which is more than 50 percent complete."

http://www.denverpost.com/breakingnews/ ... nish-i-225

Seth · Post by **Seth** » Tue Jul 31, 2012 8:24 pm

This is a very exciting project!