The Denver’s Regional Transportation District (RTD) recommended to move forward with a proposal from Balfour Beatty Infrastructure Inc. (BBII) to design and build the Southeast Rail Extension. The proposal commits to completing construction of the line by early 2019.
Once approved by the RTD Board, BBII would begin design on the project in the fall with construction expected to start in spring 2016. The projected opening of the extension is 2019. The Southeast Rail Extension will build an additional 2.3 miles (3.7 km) of light rail line that will run along the west side of I-25 from the Lincoln Station and then cross over the Interstate and run along the east side of the highway to the south side of RidgeGate Parkway in Douglas County.
The current projected budget for the Southeast Rail Extension is USD 233.1 million and includes USD 34 million spent through 2014 on environmental analysis, preliminary engineering and design and acquisition of eight light rail vehicles. The remaining USD 198.7 million project cost will be financed through a combination of federal, private and local funds. Half of the project will be funded by the Federal Transit Administration’s (FTA) New Starts program, which supplies major capital grants to metropolitan areas; plus a sizeable local match of 14 percent from private businesses and local governments and 36 percent from RTD through local funding sources.
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