Grade Separation Added to Airport Line at 40th Avenue

Figure 2-24 from the East Corridor Final Environmental Impact Statement shows the Option 2 configuration for a grade separation at 40th Avenue. See Chapter 2 here.


The 40th Avenue crossing of the East Rail Line's train to Denver International Airport will be a grade-separated crossing, with the commuter rail bridge going over a lowered street, as a result of an agreement between RTD and the Sand Creek Metropolitan District (SCMD).

The change is cost-neutral to the East Rail Line budget, which is part of the larger Eagle P3 Project now underway to build the region's first commuter rail lines as part of FasTracks.

During the environmental study, the 40th Avenue commuter rail crossing was determined not to require a grade separation based on a full evaluation of safety, traffic operations and feasibility.  As a result, an at-grade gated crossing was chosen for the preferred alternative.

However, a design option for a grade separation - with 40th Avenue lowered under a commuter rail bridge - was fully evaluated and left open in the event that third-party funding and coordination became available.  

Since the Final Environmental Impact Statement and the Record of Decision approving it were completed in 2009, SCMD has come forward with plans to pay for and reconstruct 40th Avenue below grade.  SCMD is overseeing development of parcels in the Gateway area of the corridor, including the vacant land on either side of 40th Avenue.

RTD made the change to the grade-separated option after the Federal Transit Administration completed a review of the proposal and supporting documentation from the East Rail Line EIS.  In its review, FTA found that there is no significant environmental impact to this design option.

The grade-separated option would be completed in two phases.  First, SCMD would reconstruct 40th Avenue below grade, completing it by mid-2012.  Afterward, RTD's concessionaire Denver Transit Partners (DTP) would build a two-track bridge structure over the depressed 40th Avenue.

DTP is the long-term concessionaire that is designing, building, operating and maintaining the East Rail Line's  DIA line, along with the Gold Line and a portion of the Northwest Rail Line to Westminster, under a 34-year agreement.  The airport line is scheduled to open by January 2016, with the other lines opening by mid-2016.