A commuter rail line to link Longmont and Boulder County suddenly returned to local radar screens in 2021 after Gov. Jared Polis urged the Regional Transportation District to get something done on the long-delayed idea.
Longmont was supposed to be part of RTD’s Northwest rail project, a segment in the agency’s FasTracks expansion program. But cost overruns and other miscues by the agency have pushed the anticipated completion date of the rail line to 2050. Through 2019, the total Longmont portion of the RTD tax for FasTracks was $60,299,232, according to Jim Golden, Longmont’s chief financial officer.
Longmont officials both past and present have said Longmont should leave RTD and concentrate instead on its own local bus line.
In January, Polis said in a letter to RTD officials they had a responsibility to “fulfill their obligations to the taxpayers of the district” and finish construction of the corridor by 2025.
In August, the RTD board agreed to spend $8 million to study a scaled-back version of the Northwest Rail plan, concentrating on providing rail service on only peak hours. RTD has also said it may work with Amtrak and the proposed Front Range Passenger Rail service to bring rail to Longmont.
