Looking across U.S. 6 at the new under-construction light rail station from the Golden Ridge side.
The construction site at the Jefferson County building: the new light rail line and station.
Some really terrific news that would have been easy to miss during the Indian Gulch Fire last week: Golden secured federal funding for two extremely important community projects. The first of those is our new Golden community bus. We’ve been working for a couple of years now on a plan to launch a new circulator bus in Golden. Our highest priority is to connect the light rail station at the Taj with downtown Golden, but our vision is that over time we’ll be able to connect all of our neighborhoods, our schools, and our community facilities like the Community Center. This federal funding – $1,237,000 – is incredibly helpful, and we’ll be able to pool it with funding from RTD, Colorado School of Mines, and the city to operate the bus service for a three-year trial period starting in 2013 when the light rail opens.
We also secured $1,220,000 in federal funding for a new pedestrian bridge over U.S. 6 at the new light rail station. In other words, if you live in Golden Ridge, Golden Terrace. Stonebridge, Eagle Ridge, Heritage Dells, or anywhere else near Heritage Road, you will be able to walk or bike to the new light rail station without having to cross U.S. 6. That will make your journey much safer, quicker, and more pleasant. You’ll be able to easily walk to the light rail station and catch the train to work, the ballgame, or whatever else you might head into Denver for. You can ride your bike, lock it at the station, ride the light rail, and then grab your bike when you return. Or, as some Heritage Dells folks I met with this morning pointed out, you can ride your bike into Denver (downhill) and catch the light rail back to Golden (uphill). We’ll match the federal funding with $750,000 from RTD and $300,000 from the city.
The funding is allocated through the Denver Regional Council of Governments (DRCOG). Councilor Marjorie Sloan and I represent Golden at DRCOG, and we’ve been working hard for months, along with city staff, to include the dollars for our two projects in this round of funding allocations. I’m really pleased we were able to pull it of.