A rail construction project will shut down the L Line and reroute the D and H lines to Union Station instead of their usual routes through the Central Business District after approval by the RTD Board on March 26, but the plan wasn't without objection.
After complaints over plans to end weeknight light rail service at 10 p.m. and weekend service at midnight, the RTD Board agreed to extend service until midnight on weeknights for all six light rail lines (other than the L line) and 2 a.m. on weekends for all but the R Line. According to RTD, light rail hours are shifting because the agency needs to perform maintenance on the lines for safety reasons.
While acknowledging that safety is important, RTD board member JoyAnn Ruscha — who represents the northeast Denver area serviced by the R Line — voted against the May service changes in an unprecedented move.
“I am just asking, if not begging, that the next time we do this that we try something different,” Ruscha said at the meeting. “I do represent a district that is very highly transit-dependent and has a lot of working-class folks. I had folks in near tears over this. I recognize we do have to make tough decisions. This will be the first time I vote against a service change.”
Ruscha was the only "no" vote on the changes, though other board members expressed worries and community members voiced their concerns for over an hour, as well. Many public commenters were upset that the E and H lines will only run once every hour instead of every fifteen minutes during construction. Other residents said they have concerns about a lack of access to the Auraria Campus with the D and H lines being rerouted.
Major Light Rail Reconstruction
Denver light rail lines are rerouted because RTD is completing the first full reconstruction of its downtown light rail loop since the agency began building the rail system in 1994. The project will start by redoing five intersections from May to September this year: 15th and Stout streets, 17th and Stout streets, 15th and California streets, 17th and California streets and Broadway and Welton Street. “These are heavily trafficked intersections,” says Stuart Summers, chief communications and engagement officer for RTD. "A lot of our buses run on 15th and 17th through these areas. The section of rail track in these areas is right on the street. It runs adjacent to vehicle traffic and pedestrians. What this all means is heavy machinery goes over these tracks near daily.”
The track has survived its promised lifespan of thirty years, but now the agency needs to make upgrades. At each intersection, RTD will take out the existing track and everything down to the utilities underneath the tracks before building back up to last another thirty years or more.
Since the D and H lines use those tracks, they will be rerouted to Union Station while the L line is fully suspended until construction is scheduled to end in September. To help make up for lost rail services, RTD is upping service on the 0L bus route, which goes from Broadway and Interstate 25 through downtown Denver, to run all day, every day instead of only during peak periods on weekdays as it does now.
“Both the D and H lines go through Broadway and I-25, so people could transfer to the 0L at that point if they didn't want to continue on to Union Station,” says Maux Sullivan, senior service planner and scheduler at RTD.
Sullivan suggests bus route 43 for those who typically use the L line as it operates “mostly parallel” except in places where the rail lines run against the flow of traffic. The 43 bus route also serves the Auraria Campus, she notes, though it doesn’t drop off in the same spot the rail lines do.
Residents and RTD riders aren't thrilled to lose rail access in downtown Denver.
RTD
RTD is also bringing back the free MetroRide to help people get around downtown during construction. The service was suspended in 2020 for pandemic-related operaiton adjustments.
The MetroRide runs between Civic Center Station and Union Station along 18th and 19th streets with seven stops in each direction. It will come every ten minutes and operate every day instead of just on weekdays in peak periods as it did before 2020.
To save money, RTD will cut the frequency of the Free MallRide that currently serves the 16th Street Mall from once every five minutes to every ten minutes to redirect mall bus drivers to the MetroRide; the MallRide is detoured right now because of ongoing construction on the 16th Street Mall.
The MallRide detour has put the buses that were not designed to deal with heavy traffic onto the busy 15th and 17th streets. Supplementing with the MetroRide will help preserve the mall buses and give faster rides as it stops less often than the MallRide, Sullivan adds.
Chris Nicholson, who told the RTD board he lives off 17th Street downtown, wasn't thrilled that the MallRide will go down in frequency.
“Now, instead of having one street that has fast, regular northbound service that I can walk two blocks to get to if I run out my door, I have to choose between going over to 15th and maybe getting a bus in ten minutes or going over to 18th and maybe getting a bus in ten minutes,” Nicholson said. “I think it would be a mistake to create a more weaksauce service.”
RTD says it wants to give people as many options as possible for getting around downtown, adding that it’s possible busses currently running along 15th and 17th, including the MallRide, will be rerouted during construction; the MetroRide would provide relief in those cases as well.
“Unfortunately, we're in a situation where we don't have a lot of surplus in operators,” Sullivan says. “We'd love to be able to just add all of this additional service, but since we still have some workforce challenges, we are going to cut back our MallRide service a bit to be able to implement the free MetroRide service.”
Still, some members of the public argued that detours, longer times between busses and trains and maintenance disruptions are part of what makes people hesitant to use public transit in Denver.
“When you announce service cuts or disruptions to a system that's already not performing great, that discourages people,” said Alejandra Casteñeda. “It validates their opinion that RTD quote-unquote, ‘sucks.’ …We need to make sure we're offering a service that everyone can depend on.”
Summers points out that these changes only apply through September when phase one of the rail project is over. In 2025, however, phases two through four of the project will happen. Phases two through four will include mid-block track reconstruction, a Colfax Avenue alignment reconstruction and updates on the Welton Street corridor. In total, it is expected to cost $152 million.
Starting May 26, people will see construction on the phase one intersections. Summers says RTD has worked closely with Denver to maintain vehicle and pedestrian access to businesses downtown during construction by completing construction lane by lane rather than shutting down intersections completely. Construction won’t take place on all five intersections at once, either.
Summers suggests using the RTD NextRide App to help plan trips downtown or calling call the district’s office for alternate routes.
“We want people to really understand that the downtown area is still open,” Summers says. “There still are services connecting individuals into downtown. It may not be in the manner that people are maybe accustomed to in the past, but you can still reach downtown, you can still reach the Convention Center and Civic Center and Denver Union Station.”
View the complete, approved May service changes on the RTD website.
