Colorado’s train dreams are shunted aside for a major bus expansion

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As Josh Robinson stands at the curb of his family’s relentlessly busy Argonaut Liquors, he eyes a burgeoning cluster of orange traffic cones on East Colfax Avenue with decidedly mixed feelings. 

Narrowing Denver’s primary east-west corridor to one lane just as celebratory Thanksgiving gatherings take over the city? Bad. 

Spending money to revolutionize mass transit and send tens of thousands of new people past his door? Good. 

Two years of construction frustration choking the longest commercial street in America? Terrifying. 

Denver, RTD and the Colorado Department of Transportation collaborating on a movement experiment called “bus rapid transit” that could save downtown? Promising. 

When those conflicting emotions are done playing across Robinson’s face, what’s left is a rueful smile. 

“For us, the next six weeks are by far our busiest weeks of the year, and they’re starting today,” Robinson said. “I’m hopeful it’s good for the neighborhood. Easier access is good for everybody. Make it more of a walking-friendly, public transit-friendly part of town. I don’t see anything that could be negative about that. It’s just the pain period in the middle that obviously I’m concerned about at the moment.”

That slightly carsick, bracing-for-whiplash posture will be common through the remainder of the 2020s, as transportation leaders break ground on bus rapid transit projects from Colfax to Boulder County’s Diagonal Highway, from Federal to Colorado Boulevard, and potentially beyond. 

BRT boosters say clean, comfortable buses in dedicated lanes, at frequencies meaning you can throw away the schedule to just hop on, will reinforce Colorado’s most heavily used transit corridors, better serve the disabled and revive a struggling RTD. Finishing BRT projects is exponentially cheaper and faster than adding passenger train lines. 

BRT is “the mode of the moment,” said civil engineer Richard Bamber, an advocate with the nonprofit Greater Denver Transit. “It allows a city to provide a quality transit solution at a cost they can afford. Whatever your reason for thinking transit — you hate congestion, it’s greenhouse gases, or whether you want local, livable communities that have not been just wrecked by car infrastructure — whatever your reason is, we support affordable transit for all.”

Skeptics fear dedicated lanes for buses mean chokepoints for those who must still drive. Others are fearful of local business impacts, like Argonaut’s, during years of construction.

And for the public, there’s a looming marketing challenge to convince enough new riders that the coolest thing in mass transit is a concept dating to 1826. 

“This is one of the most successful transit corridors in the United States,” Brian Welch, RTD’s senior manager of planning and technical services. “We view this project as one of these transformational and generational projects. It’s long overdue.”

For CDOT executive director Shoshana Lew, who oversees the state’s involvement as one of the partners pushing BRT on various corridors, supersizing bus access should be seen as an enhanced option for Colorado passengers, not a substitute for light rail or Front Range Rail or any other mode. 

“It’s not an ‘instead of,’ or an ‘either/or,’ it’s rather how to take the system to the next order of magnitude in terms of points of connectivity between places,” Lew said. 

RTD built a first-class light rail system radiating spokes out from the assumed downtown Denver core of economic and social life. CDOT has built out the Bustang intercity network throughout the state. Local governments are filling in neighborhood buses and “last mile” transit options like biking and walking. BRT will get more people, faster, across town, between rail stops, and to major employers dug in next to the busiest streets. 

“As we think about the system as a whole, we’re not exactly modally agnostic, because we think they’re all really important,” Lew said. “But we’re for an all-of-the-above approach.” 

As your guide to the pluses, the minuses and the unknowns about Bus Rapid Transit, which will unfold in a neighborhood likely familiar to you sometime in the next few years, we explain Colorado’s mass-bus plans corridor by corridor: 

Denver’s East Colfax Avenue

RTD’s East Colfax 15 line was carrying about 22,000 passengers a day at the pre-pandemic peak. After the pandemic drop and slow recovery, about 19,000 passengers a day use the line running from Union Station to Tower Road, now the second-busiest RTD corridor after the train run to DIA. 

RTD has focused some of its pandemic recovery on providing more frequent, reliable and extended-hour services on its most-used lines, such as Colfax, Federal and Broadway. 

“The percentage of ridership recovery on Colfax is in the high 80s from before the pandemic, whereas the rest of the system as a whole is in the high 60s or 70s,” said Welch, the RTD planner.

The transit agency, serving more than 3 million people in metro counties, has been studying systemic challenges for years: How to restart FasTracks construction on never-finished lines, how to respond to losses of downtown commuters, where BRT should be in the mix, and more. As RTD concentrated on building on FasTracks lines and coping with the pandemic, Denver took over studying Colfax’s future.

“We know that the city is going to grow about 30% in population and employment, the ability of our streets to handle more traffic will probably grow only a handful of percent in a 30-year period,” City of Denver Transit Director David Krutsinger said. “We’ve got to move more people in the same space that we have.” 

We’ve got to move more people in the same space that we have.

— Denver Transit Director David Krutsinger, on the need for Bus Rapid Transit

For Colfax specifically, the studies included options like streetcars — too slow and small —and light rail connecting to the downtown hubs — far too expensive. 

“Should it just be little tweaks and not spend that much money?” Krutsinger said. “We considered all those options, including should we do nothing? And through all of those studies, the do-nothing option didn’t really improve people’s lives. Light rail would have been a billion or more and we just didn’t have the money for that.” 

The studies showed Colfax BRT could be up and running in a few years for about $280 million. The U.S. Department of Transportation is sending $150 million of Inflation Reduction Act money as the largest chunk. Denver is offering $88 million, including $55 million from the Elevate Denver Bond vote. CDOT has $170 million for metro region BRT projects over 10 years from legislative authorization. 

Denver Regional Council of Governments is contributing $28 million more of the Colfax BRT cost, and the city of Aurora, at the east end, another $14 million.

Most transit planners believe the optimal design of BRT is large-capacity buses in a dedicated lane, centered, instead of running next to parked cars and other curb hazards. 

BRT on East Colfax will replace the local 15 and the 15 Limited express with one service, running every 4 to 5 minutes at peak hours. They will be the supersize articulated buses, to hold more riders, with three access and egress doors to speed boarding.

Fares will not be controlled at the front through the driver — RTD believes a kiosk and pass system, where a rider gets a timed stamp at a BRT station to prove they’ve paid, is more efficient. Riders will be randomly checked for fares by roving RTD employees, as they are on light rail. Colfax BRT will also push more frequent service into evening and late-night hours.

Currently, 15 stops are every quarter-mile, while 15L are every half-mile. BRT will split the difference, creating “stations,” not just a bench stop, every one-third mile. 

The actual construction is being handled by the city of Denver’s infrastructure office, though RTD will operate the system when complete. 

A dedicated center lane is the most efficient, high-volume design for transit short of tracked vehicles, planners say. Colorado and Federal Boulevard BRT will not be able to offer that same convenience or speed — more about that later. 

A rider using Colfax BRT the entire length from Broadway to Yosemite will save 30 minutes of current 15 line trips, RTD says, while riders on a more typical shorter portion will save 10 to 20 minutes. 

Better safety is another key attraction, city and state officials say, as they continue work on the Vision Zero plan for reducing injuries to drivers, cyclists and pedestrians on Colorado’s busiest streets.

“Right now Colfax is one of the most dangerous streets in the city,” Jon Stewart, Denver’s Colfax BRT project director. “There’s a need to make Colfax safer and I think this project does.” 

Riders seeking to get to or from a BRT bus will only cross one or two lanes of traffic. Reworking Colfax includes many more controlled-left-turn intersections, which are safer for all users than a four-lane speedway where cars hit 35 mph and people turning are taking big risks, RTD project manager Doug Monroe said.

The design promises more open lanes for emergency vehicles, with planners noting that on the Fitzsimons Campus end of Colfax, near UCHealth, Children’s Hospital Colorado and the VA, responders and employees must reach “the largest medical center complex west of the Mississippi.” That’s not even counting the multiple large hospitals in Uptown just north of Colfax, near 18th Avenue and Downing Street. 

Colfax BRT stops were spotted to maximize proximity to those busiest activity centers, designers said, so that there is less “backtracking” — where the rider wastes time going past their desired destination, then walking back to their job or home.

The first Colfax BRT segment, Broadway to Park Avenue, is underway now (despite Argonaut’s wishes for a post-holiday start in January). Denverites will see station platforms being built at the corners of   Pennsylvania, Downing and Park Avenue. In the spring, a second segment will start, from Williams Street to Monroe Street. 

Grant funds are set aside for impacted businesses, city officials say, though some city council members have pushed for more. Project leaders are visiting businesses one-on-one in addition to multiple community forums, “setting expectations” and letting them know about the grant fund, Denver officials said. 

A prime request from businesses was to preserve curbside parking on Colfax, another good reason to settle on the centered BRT design, Denver officials said.

Denver planners noted, though, that they don’t just hear about construction hassles from Colfax residents and businesses. “We also hear about crime and safety,” Stewart said. Just as many residents want to see the city investing in the corridor to make it safer, more pleasant and more convenient. 

And what about for drivers? For every happy straphanger zipping along on BRT, there will be employees, shoppers, medical patients or errand-runners who must drive, now narrowed down to one lane in each direction. 

Even during construction, though, “there will always be a place for cars to get through,” Stewart said. After construction, “We definitely want people driving on Colfax. We want that business access to remain,” he said. 

“If you’re taking a trip in your car during rush hour and you’re in the direction where traffic is worse,  if at 8 a.m. you need to drive towards downtown, you can expect a lag of about one minute per mile,” Stewart said. “The average trip is 3 miles, so you can expect your trip to take three minutes longer, and that’s during rush hour. If it’s not at rush hour, or you’re not moving in the direction of where most of the traffic is going, your trip is going to take the same amount after the project is complete as it does today.” 

Bookmark that for future reference. 

RTD is not promising to use electric or other zero-emission buses on Colfax BRT. It may be too expensive at current electric prices to purchase all-new stock in the desired articulated bus design. 

BoCo’s Longmont-to-Boulder Diagonal 

The bus and traffic work along Colorado 119, aka the Diagonal, is less obviously a showcase for BRT, but offers something for everyone along the way. RTD says the crash-ridden corridor is its second-busiest in Boulder County, and commuters have long looked for improvements on the variable-speed runway between Boulder and Longmont. 

BRT there will not run on a dedicated lane, but instead will speed bus service by employing “bypass” or “jump” lanes. Buses, which will also be run more frequently and later into the evening, will pull off into a “station.” When they reenter the highway, they will get a traffic signal priority to send them on their way. 

Corridor commuters will also get a new park and ride next to one of the BRT stations, a bike commuting lane, and safety and efficiency improvements at station/stops in the cities at either end of the corridor. 

RTD is cooperating with CDOT, which has jurisdiction over the state highway. Plans are to open the BRT and other improvements by the first quarter of 2027. 

“We estimate it’s going to take 10 to 12 minutes off of their commute for a transit rider, and that’s a big priority for people to take transit is if it can get them to their destination as fast as a single-occupancy vehicle or faster,” said Heather Paddock, CDOT’s northeast region director.

Federal Boulevard, Englewood to Westminster

The heavily used, metro Denver working class roadway called Federal Boulevard is exactly the kind of spine-connector CDOT and Lew are talking about when they push cooperation with RTD and local cities. Federal hosts RTD buses carrying 5,700 people a day through Englewood, Sheridan, Denver and Westminster, as well as light rail and commuter rail connections heading west, south and north. 

If BRT had been in place on Federal in 2023, it could have carried 8,500 people a day, according to CDOT planners. Projections to 2045 show 10,700 riders a day on improved BRT service, they said. 

BRT and other improvements to transit combine with existing light rail and other travel modes to have a “compounding influence” on ridership growth, Lew said. 

But Federal can’t be the dedicated center lane for BRT that Colfax will provide, they add. There’s not enough room to add lanes, and not enough support to choke down driving traffic to give up a dedicated bus lane. 

Instead, Federal BRT will run in the right-hand traffic lane, with cutouts at intersections for boarding. Those intersection lights will then give a headstart preference to the BRT buses to get out ahead of vehicle traffic, as on the Diagonal and at certain lights of other popular routes, like Broadway’s downtown stops for the 0 line. 

Progress on Federal won’t just help existing commuters, but will position the corridor to handle growth, Lew said. Homebuilders plan an entire new, dense urban community on the hilltop Westminster Farms at Federal and West 84th Avenue, and Sloan Lake is a fast-gentrifying Denver neighborhood. CDOT looks at those new homeowners, apartment dwellers and business workers and sees “ridership,” Lew said. 

The current state of the Federal BRT plan would have a new bus system running by Jan. 1, 2030, CDOT says.  

Glendale-Denver’s Colorado Boulevard

First in many peoples’ hearts, perhaps, but alas not first in the BRT chronology, is the often-treeless, occasionally sidewalk-less, lunchtime traffic jammed, sunblasted mess that is Colorado Boulevard, aka Colorado 2. From Interstate 70 to Hampden, it’s where everybody needs to go — apparently all at the same time. 

The transit advocacy coalition has a (printable) name for it. 

“We call it a ‘stroad,’ because it’s not a street and it’s not a road,” Bamber said. “And stroads are a unique piece of engineering achievement in America, because we’ve managed to design something that literally every user hates. Bus drivers and riders hate them. Drivers hate them. Bicyclists and pedestrians hate them.”

Colorado Boulevard needs something for sure, likely BRT, but is not as far along in state planning as the other corridors, Lew said. A full alternatives analysis is not yet complete. What’s certain is that it can’t and won’t look like Colfax. 

“The confusing part of bus rapid transit for people inside and outside the profession is there is no single project that looks exactly like any other,” RTD’s Welch said. 

The car and truck volume Colorado Boulevard carries makes it harder to give up dedicated lanes for BRT. 

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“I drive it,” Lew said, with the look of resignation that thoughts of Colorado Boulevard often produce. “Losing traffic lanes is real.”

The width makes a center configuration dangerous, for elderly or disabled or really any riders struggling through high-speed car lanes. 

The transit coalition is begging for creativity and bold action on Colorado Boulevard, though, “rather than just bolting on the bus stops to the side of the road,” Bamber said. Many ideas are better than “making people cross eight lanes of crazy traffic to get their bus.”

For Colorado Boulevard, “the last chapter has not been told,” according to Jessica Myklebust, Denver regional director for CDOT. Planners are hoping for massive public input and buy-in on how BRT should look on the boulevard.

“Please engage,” she said.

Roaring Fork Falley’s VelociRFTA 

The “fast, fun and frequent” service from Glenwood Springs to Aspen was billed as the first rural BRT in the nation. Opening in 2013, buses at peak hours launch from West Glenwood or downtown Glenwood as frequently as every seven minutes, promising downtown to Aspen in just over an hour, “the same as a car!” according to RFTA.

Like many of the BRT projects planned since, VelociRFTA is designed to take advantage of many needs in order to fill vehicles: ski resort workers needing a reliable way to get to hotel or lift jobs without parking fees, skiers themselves staying down valley, shopping and entertainment at either end of the corridor, and more. 

Roaring Fork Valley Transit is the largest rural transit provider in the nation, the second largest overall in Colorado, and served 4.8 million passenger trips in 2023. 

Boulder-to-Denver Flatiron Flyer

Metro voters who approved RTD’s extra FasTracks sales tax in 2004 have held special contempt for this project since it became the first completed FasTracks project. The reason? They thought they were voting for trains and what they got was a big bus.

But some of those same facts belie the disdain: The Flatiron Flyer was and is so successful that it became the model for BRT throughout the Front Range. Once RTD and CDOT switched to BRT-designed buses in 2016, ridership soared to nearly 3.4 million trips on the corridor in the pre-pandemic peak year of 2019. 

There is no single dedicated BRT lane for the whole 18 miles. Instead, RTD and CDOT cobbled together a number of designs to make the buses fly: use of express lanes and shoulders on U.S. 36, pullout stops and traffic signal priority on ramps, real time bus information signs, and high-frequency service peaking at 4 minute intervals.

“It’s not a binary, that either it’s totally dedicated or totally mixed in,” Lew said. “The managed lane was constructed in a way where either it’s a toll for drivers or it gets the bus there faster, and it’s kind of a hybrid.”

I think the more that we can have different ways to get people across the Front Range, up and down the Front Range, and between cities, the better.

— Shoshana Lew, CDOT executive director

“Multi-modal” means “build everything”

Tried and true bus technology with more predictable cost may also prove more survivable in the transition to Trump administration transportation policy, where appointed officials have said they want to cut clean tech and other green strategies. Colfax BRT is based on a large federal grant in the waning days of the Biden administration. 

Federal transit aid for small individual projects — in the hundreds of millions versus tens of billions — is now “almost entirely bus rapid transit, which is a complete change from 10 to 12 years ago,” RTD’s Welch said. “Rail projects have proven to be extraordinarily expensive and take a long time compared to bus rapid transit. So in this sense, I think others have recognized that the future is going to be more bus rapid transit and a lot less rail.”

Pushing deep into BRT does not mean giving up on other big ideas for the Front Range, Lew said, including passenger rail the length of I-25 to fill in the gaps left by RTD’s FasTracks and extend transit to Pueblo and Fort Collins. New rail cannot be built all at once in a multi-billion dollar sprint, she said. The most promising sections will go first, as Colorado accumulates federal, state and potential local tax and grant dollars. 

Looking around at how other big cities do it, Lew said, “Chicago has just done a big push on BRT. New York City has a lot of different kinds of buses and bus services. Amtrak in the northeast corridor serves as a big spine, a connector between all forms of transit whether local commuter rail, local buses, or even airports.”

Front Range Rail could be a spine like that. BRT can be a spine like that, Lew said.

“I think the more that we can have different ways to get people across the Front Range,” Lew said, “up and down the Front Range, and between cities, the better.”