A key section of the FasTracks light rail project in Aurora will be finished after a unanimous vote Tuesday night by the Regional Transportation District Board — but not before northern corridor residents vented their frustration.
“As it stands now, residents aren’t just annoyed, they are angry,” said Rich Himmel, who lives in Thornton and is candidate for the RTD board.
Northglenn Mayor Joyce Downing, who represented a consortium of local government and business groups, said north and northwest communities have been bypassed by FasTracks planners in favor of south metro light rail projects such as the Interstate 225 segment.
“To date and through the proposed action to complete the I-225 segment, the investments in FasTracks that actually put trains on the track have been made everywhere but the north area,” said Downing during public comments Tuesday. “We cannot stand by any longer and watch as the completion of other corridors move up the schedule while real plans for our corridors appear to move further out.”
The RTD Board renewed its vow to finish FasTracks up north, then voted 14-0 to pick Kiewit Infrastructure Company to complete the I-225 light rail line, which now has about a 10.5-mile gap between South Parker Road and Interstate 70 in Aurora.
The final segment would connect important destinations including the Aurora City Center, the Anschutz/Fitzsimons Medical Campus and Denver International Airport.
Kiewit says it will complete the light rail line for a fixed price of $350 million by November 2015.
Kiewit submitted an “unsolicited bid” in March for the I-225 job. RTD determined its proposal was workable so the agency opened the project to other bidders.
Kiewit Infrastructure’s bid team includes Mass. Electric Construction Co. AECOM and RBC Capital Markets.
A competing proposal was submitted by Balfour Beatty Ames Joint Venture, which includes Scotiabank Global Banking and Markets, Orric, Herrington & Sutcliff, Bank of America Merrill Lynch Global Markets.
RTD praised both bids but leaned toward Kiewit because the company said it will complete the entire I-225 project.
RTD’s FasTracks program was approved by voters in 2004 but funding woes have scuttled plans to complete the entire light rail system, especially in the north metro area, on time.
RTD now says that without additional funds, FasTracks won’t be finished until 2044.
Kiewit’s plan would allow the I-225 portion to be finished on time and with existing funds.
Kiewit Infrastructure, a division of Omaha, Neb.-based Kiewit Corp., led the design-build construction team on the T-REX project, which widened Interstate 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, a project that is more than 50 percent complete.
The RTD board also agreed Tuesday night to commit $15 million to help complete the second phase of the U.S. 36 Managed Lanes Project. The first phase began this week.
Board chairman Lee Kemp vowed Tuesday that the entire FasTracks system will one day extend all the way north into Longmont.
“Your voices are being heard loud and clear,” Kemp said. “We will get this down.”
Monte Whaley: 720-929-0907, mwhaley@denverpost.com or twitter.com/montewhaley
The firm that won the bid
About Kiewit Infrastructure:
Structure: A division of Omaha, Neb.-based Kiewit Corp., a diverse company that is one of the largest transportation contractors in North America.
What it does: Kiewit constructs or upgrades highways and bridges as well as rail lines, rail yards, urban mass transit systems and airport runways, according to the company. Over the past 10 years, Kiewit has constructed more than 1,100 transportation projects totaling more than $30 billion in contract revenue.
Larger projects: Those in which Kiewit acted as the main contractor or in a joint venture include the $1.2 billion DFW Connector in Dallas-Forth Worth, the Folsom Dam Bridge in Folsom, Calif., Sea-to-Sky Highway project in British Columbia and the $615 million Tacoma Narrows Bridge in Tacoma, Wash.
In Colorado: Led the design-build construction team on the T-REX project, a joint effort by the Regional Transportation District and the Colorado Department of Transportation to widen Interstate 25 and build a rail line south of downtown Denver.
Kiewit is currently building the new rail lines and bus station at Denver Union Station, a project that’s more than 50 percent complete, according to RTD.
Monte Whaley, The Denver Post
