[bouldercouncilhotline] Hotline: US36 MCC lobbying trip and update

[cmosupport at bouldercolorado.gov]

Sender: Appelbaum, Matt

Colleagues – As you know, the US36 MCC (Mayors and Commissioners Coalition) visited DC last week on its annual lobbying trip.  This is a brief update on that visit, which includes updates on some ongoing US36 issues.  I’ve attached the
 trip agenda, which changed a bit in real time but resulted with us meeting with all of the people who are listed.  In particular, we had excellent conversations with Sen. Bennet (and a brief one with Sen. Udall), and with Reps. Polis (who also joined us for
 a while at dinner), Perlmutter, DeGette, and Gardner.  Our group included elected officials and staff from all of the communities, plus RTD and US36 Commuting Solutions.
 
This year our main goal was to thank everyone for their ongoing support, particularly the entire Colorado delegation that has signed letters on our behalf, and to provide an update on the status of US36 BRT, our remaining needs for that
 project, and the broader issues relating to the NW Corridor.  After hearing this pitch well over a dozen times I think I can accurately summarize it as follows (this was of course tailored a bit for each audience):
 

·        
BRT Phase 1 is under construction with help from a $10M TIGER TIFIA Challenge grant.  It will be finished in 2015.

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BRT Phase 2 will hopefully begin construction soon.  HPTE (CDOT’s tolling arm) will be getting bids shortly, and has been invited to apply for another TIFIA loan.

·        
Key need to finish BRT is acquiring real BRT buses for opening day, then more as the service rolls out.  Cost is $50M - $100M; RTD cannot fund all of it in a timely fashion.  Looking for any sort of federal assistance via grants
 or loans.  Apparently we might be able to roll some of these costs into a TIFIA loan.

·        
The new MAP-21 bill (2-year reauthorization of federal transportation funding) seems to define BRT in a limited way that may preclude our being eligible for funding.  It also allocates most funds by formula, and we’d like some
 to be programmed for competitive grants such as TIGER.

·        
The NAMS (Northwest Area Mobility Study) is beginning and we expect to get options and reach a consensus approach by early next year regarding how to best provide mobility in the NW Corridor given the difficulty of finishing NW
 Rail.  This includes options for segmenting rail, linking Longmont to Denver via North rail, and extending BRT to Longmont and other parts of our region.  Obviously we’d like federal support for whatever desired outcome is selected.

·        
Since the largest portion of the cost for NW Rail is due to the need to share the rail corridor with freight, we asked our delegation – particularly Sen. Bennet – to perhaps open a conversation with BNSF about moving their freight
 off of the NW Rail line and further east.  Currently the line serves a small amount of freight which in theory could be moved, but that is not an easy task and railroads don’t yield their rights-of-way easily.  However, we’ve been told that BNSF is likely
 to leave that line at some point, so it might be possible to facilitate an earlier departure.  Such an action would most likely reduce NW Rail costs by well over 50%.

·        
We also discussed quiet zones, asking for whatever assistance the delegation could provide.  Both senators have recently sent a letter to the railroad agency asking them to reconsider the very stringent and costly rules regarding
 quiet zones.
 
--Matt
 
 
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