First RTD contractors will dig two feet under five of the busiest intersections in downtown Denver as transit officials begin a $152 million rail maintenance catch-up blitz to lay new tracks that should be good for three decades.
Then RTD crews will paint portions of those intersections red, or another color to be determined in an upcoming “design exercise” – a brighter look intended to improve safety for vehicles and pedestrians.
Traffic disruptions and detours will start this weekend and continue through summer.
RTD officials are suspending rail service across central downtown Denver but contractors will be “trying to minimize the impact to our customers,” RTD’s general manager Debra Johnson said. “Not to mention that downtown is bustling….. We know this frustrates everyone.”
Blockages at the five dug-up intersections — 17th and California, 15th and California, 17th and Stout, 15th and Stout, and Broadway and Welton – mean downtown locations will be harder to reach. RTD officials plan to run free MetroRide shuttles along 18th and 19th streets to ferry people between Union Station and Civic Center.
“There are going to be some pain points,” Johnson said. But rail reconstruction is necessary “to ensure we can sustain our system.”
Rail service downtown began in October 1994 and maintenance, until now, has been piecemeal with 17 fixes between 2012 and 2023 costing $19 million.
De-icer chemicals corroding steel rails and cracking concrete along tracks created potentially catastrophic risks detected in October and November 2022, state Public Utilities Commission records show. RTD supervisors took precautions, directing train operators to slow speeds to 3 miles per hour along downtown curves until repairs were completed. Then, RTD officials told PUC safety regulators that a comprehensive overhaul would be necessary. They’ve been planning it since last summer and in February announced the disruptions.
Starting on Sunday, all D and H line trains will be rerouted to Denver’s Union Station. L Line trains connecting the 30th Avenue/Downing Station to the Downtown Loop will be suspended. No light rail service will operate in the central part of Denver and buses will be re-routed around work crews.
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Denver officials have been pressing RTD to ensure “as few disruptions to travel as possible,” mayoral spokeswoman Jordan Fuja said in an emailed statement.
City transportation and infrastructure officials have emphasized a need for RTD contractors to work on one or two intersections at a time to allow for “rolling detours” that minimize traffic disruption.
Under an agreement with the city, RTD and its contractor must coordinate with the city on “which intersections, at what time, and how traffic flows will work,” Fuja said.
Starting next year, the RTD and its contractors will again work downtown on rail reconstruction beyond the five intersections through the middle portions of blocks along transit routes.
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