[bouldercouncilhotline] Hotline: DRCOG meeting

[cmosupport at bouldercolorado.gov]

Sender: Becker, KC

There were 2 important developments at Wednesday night's Denver Regional Council of Government's (DRCOG) meeting which I attended on behalf of the city. 

First, DRCOG awarded $15million to Phase 2 of US 36 improvements. This is the final piece of funding necessary to complete the many planned improvements of US 36 in Boulder County. These improvements include managed lanes which will accommodate Bus Rapid Transit, HOV, and tolled SOV vehicles, among other things. Construction on Phase 1 in Westminster has begun and all improvements are expected to completed by end of 2015.  This is great for Boulder and is due to the hard work of city of Boulder and Boulder County staff, and all the other Cities along the US 36 corridor who submitted a very strong proposal to DRCOG.

Second, the North Area Transportation Alliance (NATA) submitted a resolution to DRCOG asking DRCOG to sign and send it to RTD. The reason that NATA wanted DRCOG to submit a resolution to RTD is that RTD must submit for DRCOG's approval an Annual Report and a revised analysis of its plans for FasTracks. NATA's resolution, which the DRCOG board passed 27-13 (after making some changes which removed direct reference to the North and Northwest corridors), states that, "RTD shall give recognition to regional equity of service. Any prioritization of any corridors should be made in a collaborative regional process that incorporates input from local governments through the region. The purpose of any input process is to ensure that all modifications meet RTD's goal of ensuring that such modifications have an equal impact on remaining corridors."   It further states that, " DRCOG believes this approach is necessary and beneficial to provide reasonable and timely access to rapid transit to everyone in the RTD area in the FasTracks Plan as contemplated in the Ballot4 Election."

Cities in the Northwest and Northern corridors, who have received very little benefit from FasTracks, felt that strong direction to RTD was necessary so that remaining funding would be directed toward our corridors.  An earlier draft of the resolution had directed that RTD commit "all available funds to the north and northwest corridors." The Board showed little support for this more direct language but I believe that the amended resolution still sends a clear message to RTD that it must consider equity when prioritizing remaining funds for FasTracks and that it must consult with local governments more closely. 


KC Becker