Re DMUs:
"With respect to DMU's that holds no appeal for me."
Why? What do you care if it's a slightly different kind of train, if the service is about the same? DMUs don't have to look like intercity trains; you can get models that
look like and are branded as light rail. Part of my point here is that I'm using the cheaper DMUs to buy other things that I'd like to have. Do you dislike DMUs so much that you'd say "no" to Colfax rail if it meant converting a couple of other LRT lines to DMU, when their frequencies and station-spacing are more appropriate to DMU anyway? Really?
SW line:
Definitely axe Evans as there would be a Broadway LRT station 4 blocks away.
Maaaybe axe Oxford too, even though my LRT doesn't go that far and it has good TOD potential. The point here is the Broadway LRT is the local with pretty frequent stops, while the SW DMU is an express that moves faster. Expresses need to have relatively few stops to work.
SE line:
DTC is the one place in the region besides downtown Denver that really shouldn't be optional. The TOD potential there is enormous, for real large-scale legit tens of millions of square feet Union Station-style TODs. But you're right, a deviation there can't be slow. So let's pay for two miles of elevated line through there by eliminating a couple of stations along the way (Louisiana-Pearl and Yale), and ending the line at County Line instead of continuing further south. County Line is a fine location for an end line park-and-ride, and I'd definitely trade away the half-hearted TODs to the south in exchange for vastly better TODs in DTC. The 12 voters Lone Tree had in 2004 aren't a big enough deal to justify the high cost of extending across 470.
A-line spur to Aurora:
The purpose of that line is to satisfy the political requirement to reach Aurora Town Center, and to do it with a faster train that's less expensive. Fitz is served by the Colfax LRT. We lose Aurora hospital but we gain Old Aurora along Colfax.
225 line/Nine Mile:
Yes these are painful losses, but the gains we can pay for by making these cuts far outweigh the losses. We gain Broadway & Colfax LRT and the DTC el. Those are better than Nine Mile! Now, that said, I tell you what: I'm sympathetic to the need for a line that connects people east of Cherry Creek reservoir. But we can't pay for it if we want this other stuff. So let's pencil in a new "future corridor"
like the NE as a spur going up to Nine Mile, then out Hampden all the way to 470. We're not building that now as part of our re-imagined FasTracks, but we're putting it at the top of the list for the next generation. Essentially we're trading places with Colfax, doing that now instead of this one, and this one later instead of Colfax. Are you SURE you wouldn't make that trade?
Gold line:
Good point re needing to reach Wheat Ridge. But the "Arvada Ridge" station on Kipling is closer to the center of Wheat Ridge than that Ward Road station anyway, so Let's just rename it "Wheat Ridge" (or "Arvada West/Wheat Ridge" if we must) and declare victory. While we're on the subject of renamings though, I'm replacing stations named for street intersections with neighborhood names wherever practical systemwide. For example, 10th & Osage becomes "Lincoln Park," and Alameda becomes "Baker."
Boulder line:
You're right, that wouldn't have been acceptable to the voters. In that case, let's scrub the BRT completely and build only DMU. End it in Boulder and call Longmont a "future corridor." If budget allows, use money from the canceled BRT to extend the rail into downtown Boulder via Arapaho. But the money probably doesn't allow.
Speer-to-Leetsdale:
I like Broadway-to-Speer-to-Leetsdale. How about this for a proposal: We do Broadway-to-Speer-to-Leetsdale with a stop in Cherry Creek and an eastern terminus at Nine Mile/I-225. In exchange, we cut both my south Broadway Line (I'm loathe to lose Baker but it's worth it for Cherry Creek) and your 225 spur of the SE line. We keep all the existing stations on the SW line, but it still gets converted to DMU. If the money is tight, we'll do it as DMU instead of LRT (stations on Leetdale would be further apart than on south Broadway, so that can work). Deal?
Colfax:
I want Colfax to have a bona fide transitway, and I'd definitely prioritize rail there over other places like 225. It could be streetcar vehicles on the real BRT alignment.
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