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Just two short years after voters
in the Denver metro region soundly defeated a proposal to build a regional
rail system, a light rail measure was approved by an overwhelming 66%
margin. How did the turnaround occur?
In 1997, the Regional
Transportation District (RTD) proposed a four-tenths-of-a-cent sales tax
increase to fund rail and bus projects in seven major transportation
corridors. Broadly supported by the business community, local elected
officials and environmental and other community groups, supporters raised
about $650,000 for the campaign.
Ironically, the opposition was led
by a member of the RTD Board with ties to a libertarian-leaning think
tank. The ballot measure had been approved by the RTD board with
only a narrow margin. When other Board members vacillated, the opposing
RTD member was able to get Board resolutions passed that were helpful to
project detractors. As a result, the measure lost by a 56% margin.
Post-election polling found, not surprisingly, a lack of confidence in the
RTD Board and a perception that the plan was too big and too vague (some
corridors did not have specific projects identified).
Despite the defeat, the
pro-transit coalition stayed together. In 1998, it succeeded in electing a
strong, pro-rail majority to the RTD Board. Meanwhile, the Colorado
Department of Transportation (DOT) moved ahead with an Environmental
Impact Statement (EIS) on the Southeast corridor – on of the seven
corridors proposed in the original ballot measure. A coalition of business
groups, local governments and environmentalists was formed to support the
Southeast Corridor strategy, and a similar coalition called Transit
Alliance came together in support of the overall regional transit plan.
In 1999, a unified RTD Board put
another proposal on the ballot. The measure was limited to the one
light-rail project on the Southeast Corridor. Unlike the 1997 initiatives,
it was very specific and involved no new taxes. It also ran in tandem with
a statewide highway bonding measure that accelerated construction on a
number of projects, including the additional lanes needed for the
Southeast Corridor rail project.
The coalition in support of the
referendum now included Governor Bill Owens, who, as State Treasurer, had
opposed the earlier 1997 proposal. Over one million dollars was raised in
support of each ballot measure. Light rail won with two-thirds of the
vote, and the highway measure won by 62%.
A Full Funding Grant Agreement is
now in place for the Southeast Corridor (now called T-REX – the
Transportation Expansion Project). A light-rail connection to the
Southwest suburbs, which had been funded by federal funds, opened last
year, on-time and on-budget, with ridership that is 50% over projections.
Major Investment Studies are now
complete for the six remaining corridors. A recent public opinion survey
by Transit Alliance, CDOT and RTD found 78% support to fund a proposed mix
of rail, bus and highway projects. An
equal number supported a four-tenths-of-a-cent sales tax increase for RTD
for the rail and bus elements of the plan.
This public support for light rail
funding, combined with a track record of successful light rail projects, a
unified RTD board of directors, and well-defined projects in each
transportation corridor, bode well for passage of a transit sales tax
proposal in the next couple of years.
Transit Alliance is a coalition of
36 local governments, business associations and citizen groups dedicated
to public transit as part of a balanced, multimodal transportation network
for Metropolitan Denver. For
more information, call the Alliance at 303-573-1496 or visit www.transitalliance.org
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