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Originally Posted by sammyg
So now that Wisconsin, Ohio, and possibly Iowa and Florida have cancelled their projects, what's left? Illinois, California, Washington/Oregon and North Carolina?
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Colorado's High Speed Rail (HSR) project, continues to move forward. Colorado was just awarded a total of $1.5 million from the Feds and has provided an equal $1.5 million local match to progress to the next step. The Colorado Department of Transportation (CDOT) has concluded it's recent study for the I-70 Mountain Corridor from Denver to Vail/Eagle County Airport and the preferred recommendation is that over the next 20 years the corridor will need a series of advanced highway management upgrades, passing lanes, some highway widening, and an Advanced Guideway high-speed transportation system.
The $3 million in funding is for creating a High Speed Rail department in the CDOT, which will be the final requirement needed for inclusion on the Federal High Speed Rail corridor list -- which will qualify Colorado for future federal funds to further advance the program and construction phases.
Another part of the $3 million will be used to conduct the PEIS, the next study required by the feds. These next two steps are expected to take 2-3 years to complete.
Denver's Mayor John Hickenlooper (D), supported and helped to win voter approval (which passed), the massive Denver area FasTracks mass transit expansion project. Hickenlooper has now been elected in as Colorado State Governor. Transportation is one of his main agenda's behind economic development and job creation, and in fact he directly ties transportation improvements to economic development, job creation and quality of life (all which help attract and retain businesses and jobs).
From Hickenlooper's website:
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Advance Recommendations for the I-70 Corridor: The Interstate-70 (I-70) West Mountain Corridor is a critical corridor that impacts commerce, tourism, recreation, and overall economic development in Colorado. After years of contentious debate, there is now a consensus recommendation from stakeholders along the corridor for multi-modal I-70 improvements. This recommendation includes a combination of highway improvements and an "advanced guideway" system. The big question facing Colorado is how to fund these needed improvements. We are committed to convening stakeholders and exploring all funding opportunities to address the long-term needs while strategically seeking short-term solutions to provide immediate relief to the corridor's year-round congestion problems.
Immediate and Strategic ideas for the I-70 corridor include:
-Work with CDOT and the Federal Highway Administration to complete the I-70 Programmatic Environmental Impact Statement (PEIS), with the consensus recommendation as the preferred alternative, in a timely fashion.
-Pursue projects that do not require completion of the PEIS such as safety projects, community mitigation projects, environmental projects and some highway widening.
-Start an alignment study for high speed rail.
-Implement more Travel Demand Management (TDM) projects. Examples include:
-Incentivizing truckers and local communities to find ways to consolidate deliveries and avoid peak travel periods.
-Running direct transit service from Denver to mountain towns during peak seasons.
-Implement Transportation System Management projects and carefully review the viability of proposals such as "zipper lanes".
-Work with Colorado's congressional delegation to designate I-70 as a Project of National and Regional Significance in the federal transportation re-authorization process.
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