DENVER — Colorado’s Regional Transportation District estimates it is more than $1 billion short of the funding needed to finish the FasTracks rail projects approved by voters in 2004, according to the draft version of a report by the transit agency. Among those projects is the commuter rail line to Boulder and Longmont, Colo., which could figure in the proposed Front Range Passenger Rail project to link communities from Fort Collins to Trinidad.
The report — prepared to comply with a state law requiring the RTD to address how it could complete the FasTracks program by 2034 — says the RTD has identified, as a best-case estimate, $441 million in potential funding between 2026 and 2034 for four projects with an estimated construction cost of $1.6 billion. Even if the focus was reduced to the two unfinished commuter rail lines, to Longmont and Thornton, the cost would be more than $1 billion. The other unfinished portions of the FasTracks program are two extensions of existing light rail lines.
“However, the financial challenge is even greater than these numbers suggest,” the report’s executive summary says, noting the $1.6 billion figure is in 2024 dollars and does not account for inflation, meaning ‘the actual cost to build the corridors will be much higher.” And it calls the $441 million estimate of available funds optimistic, because it assumes a larger share of statewide funding for the projects than is likely.
Colorado Public Radio first reported the contents of the draft document. Bill Sirois, RTD senior manager, transit oriented communities, told CPR that based on the agency’s current analysis, “we can’t overcome to complete the corridors in the next 10 years. And that’s going to be a real challenge for us or aybody as we move forward.”
The RTD agreed earlier this year to join with the Front Range Passenger Rail District and Colorado Department of Transportation to work on development of the Denver-Fort Collins portion of the Front Range plan [see “Denver RTD votes to join …,” Trains.com, June 28, 2025], in hopes that it could help get the Denver-Longmont line built sooner as part of the larger project. The draft report notes that working together, “the partners aim to deliver a more efficient and cost-effective solution, which includes integrating different types of rail servies to meet the region’s transportation needs.” But it also notes that the Front Range service is not likely to serve all the stations envisioned in the RTD’s Northwest Rail line to Longmont, given the differing federal definitions of commuter and passenger rail.
The next RTD board meeting, scheduled for Tuesday, Oct. 28, will include an open forum on the report. The public can also submit comments on the report here. The public comment period on the draft document concludes Nov. 14, and the RTD plans to submit a final report to the state legislature before Thanksgiving.
