Now the Colorado House hears about the Southwest Chief (SB17-153)

House Transportation Committee Hearing
Wednesday, April 12, Committee Meeting starts at 1:30 pm, SB17-153 at 2:30 maybe
Colorado State Capitol
Basement
200 E. Colfax Avenue
Denver
Bus: 6, 15, 15L
The capitol is in walking distance to the free Mall Ride and Civic Center Station although they may be stopping further away than usual because Civic Center is under construction

Committee members:

Chair, Diane Mitsch Bush, Democrat representing Eagle and Routt Counties
Vice Chair Faith Winter, Democrat representing Westminster
Jeff Bridges, Democrat representing part of Arapahoe County
Daneya Esgar, Democrat, Majority Caucus Chair, representing Pueblo County
Joann Ginal, Democrat representing a part of Larimer County
Chris Hansen, Democrat representing a part of Denver
Dominique Jackson, Democrat representing a part of Arapahoe County
Barbara McLaclan, Democrat representing Archuleta, Gunnison, Hinsdale, La Plata, Ouray, and San Juan Counties
Perry Buck, Republican Minority Whip representing parts of Larimer and Weld Counties
Terri Carver, Republican representing a part of El Paso County
Polly Lawrence, Republican representing parts of Douglas and Teller Counties
Dan Nordberg, Republican representing a part of El Paso County
Jon Becker, Republican representing Cheyenne, Kit Carson, Logan, Morgan, Philips, Sedgwick, and Yuma Counties

Daneya Esgar of Pueblo is a co-sponsor of the bill to strengthen the Southwest Chief Commission, partly by giving it the authority to develop rail along the Front Range. This will make it much more likely that the train will come to Pueblo, and possible that a train will connect Colorado from Trinidad through Colorado Springs and Denver to Fort Collins.

Any resident of Colorado may testify although the time to do so may be later in the session

Joint Budget Committee May Vote on Southwest Chief Funding

Tuesday, April 14, 2 pm or later

Joint Budget Committee Hearing Room

Legislative Service Building, 3rd Floor

200 East 14th Avenue

Denver

Bus: 15, 15L

Advocates will try to get a voice vote so that we can take those results back to constituents.

Colorado Senate committee advances Bill 176

by Rob Rynerson

By a vote of 5 to 2, the Local Government Affairs Committee of the Colorado Senate approved Senate Bill 176, a first step in advancing a State Assembly measure which sets up policies and financing for the Centennial State's share of improvements to the 'Southwest Chief' route through Southeastern Colorado. The Tuesday afternoon approval vote was bipartisan.

Senator Larry Crowder (R), a committee member and sponsor of the bill was joined in presenting it by Senator Leroy Garcia (D).

Members voting to advance the bill: Larry Crowder (R), John Kefalas (D), Kerry Donovan (D), Lucia Guzman (D), Beth Martinez Huminek (R).

Members voting against the bill: David Balmer (R), Vicki Marble (R).

Members who supported the bill generally shared ColoRail's view that the 'Southwest Chief' offers a unique service in an area of the state that is struggling economically and that with a reroute to serve
Pueblo, it is a building block toward Front Range service.

Senator Marble, who chaired the meeting, expressed during a break that her Northern Colorado constituents want money spent on highway improvements first.

Senator Balmer, representing part of Arapahoe County, was concerned about national issues and asked questions about the feasibility of defunding Amtrak completely.

The bill to fund and improve the Southwest Chief is out of the appropriations committee

And now it has passed the House by 44 to 20.

HB 1161, Preseve and Expand Amtrak Service, passed the House Appropriations by 11 to 1 this week. This bill would fund repairs to the tracks while creating a new stop in Pueblo. Thanks to Rep. Leroy Garcia for getting this done.

Petition to Save and Improve the Southwest Chief

Sal Pace, a Pueblo County Commissioner, has created a petition to the Colorado Governor John Hickenlooper and to the Colorado Legislature to ask for funding to add Pueblo to the route of the Southwest Chief along with funding to fix the tracks.

Petition to Fund Improvements to the Southwest Chief

I encourage everybody to sign.

The Colorado House will be hearing testimony on maintaining rail

Wednesday, February 12, at 3 pm
State Capitol
200 E. Colfax, Room 107
Bus: 6, 15, 15L
Within walking distance of Civic Center Station and the bus stops at the corner of Colfax and Broadway.

The House Local Government Committee will be hearing testimony on a bill to fund the Southwest Chief. This bill may extend service to Pueblo. It is my understanding that anyone is welcome to testify.

The Field Hearings Continue

Colorado's Transportation Legislation Review Committee continues to hold field hearings around the state.

Monday, August 19
at 3 pm
Otero Junior College
Humanities Center and Theater, Room 1802
1802 Colorado Avenue
La Junta
Bus and Train: There are rumors of something called La Junta Transit, but I cannot find any evidence of it online. You can get here from Lamar via the Southwest Chief if you come early in the morning and then return in the evening. Otero Junior College is maybe a twenty minute walk from the staion. Greyhound will get you to La Junta at 3:45 on both of the schedules that I found.

Wednesday, August 20
at 9 am
El Pueblo History Museum
Meeting Room
301 North Union Avenue
Pueblo
Bus: Berkley Buelah #4 (PDF), and whatever route coming from the east is in green on the Pueblo Transit System Map. (Warning: This map is a little buggy.)

at 1:30 pm
University of Colorado, Colorado Springs
Gallogly Events Center, Gymnasium
1420 Austin Bluffs Parkway
Colorado Springs
Bus: 9 (PDF) and 14 (PDF) will both get you to the edge of the campus. It is about a ten minute walk to the gymnasium from there.

The report from a transit activist up north was that these meetings were more self-congratulatory than genuine efforts to become more educated. Hopefully, these meetings will go better.

Colorado's Transportation Legislation Review Committee Field Hearings

Wednesday, July 24 at 10:30 - noon
Morgan County Treasurer's Office
Assembly Room
231 Ensign Street
Fort Morgan
Bus: Platte Express Bus Route
This location is one block from the Amtrak station although the schedule does not work for anyone coming from within Colorado.

Wednesday, July 24 at 3:30 pm to 5:00 pm
University of Northern Colorado
University Center Conference Room
2045 10th Avenue
Greeley
Bus: Orange and Blue

Thursday, July 25 at 9:00 am to 10:30 am
Front Range Community College
Longs Peak Student Center
East & West Room
4616 S. Shields
Fort Collins
Bus: 1, 19 Please note that there is a detour on the 19 (PDF) route near this location.
Also within a ten to twenty minute walk of the Flex.

Transportation Legislation Review Committee (The links from this page have some fancy coding that may prevent them from opening on some machines.)

Southern Colorado and Western Slope Tours are scheduled for August and September, respectively.

On the one hand, I actually heard about the committee meetings this year. On the other, I heard about it from organizations that very much defend corporate interests above those of small businesses and ordinary citizens. One in particular is very white. I may go to the meeting in Greeley to see if everyone is white.

Arvada Town Hall Meeting on the Gold Line and Northwest Rail

Colorado State Senate District 19 Town Hall Meeting
Local Transportation Update
Saturday, June 15, 10:30 am to noon
Standley Lake Library
8485 Kipling Street
Arvada
Bus: 100

This meeting is hosted by State Senator Evie Hudak and State Representative Tracy Kraft-Tharp. Representatives from RTD will be there to answer questions about the Eagle-P3 project which includes the Gold Line and Northwest Rail. RTD Directors Lorraine Anderson and Larry Hoy will be there as well.

Colorado's cities and towns can now use gas tax dollars for transit projects

Last Thursday, the Colorado House passed Senate Bill 48 which permits cities and counties in Colorado to use gas tax dollars for any transportation project. I believe that this means that the bill heads to the governor's office to be signed.

SB 48 would allow Colorado's cities and counties to use their gas tax dollars for any transportation projects. This is good as it makes it easier for cities and counties to do what works best and what is most efficient rather. Currently, cities and counties get funding for particular kinds of projects, usually roads, before the planning has been done. Once that funding has been given, the city or county cannot decide that they need a bus or a sidewalk more or even as a part of the project. And gas tax dollars cannot be used at all for anything other than roads, even though buses pay the gas tax.

This bill does not completely solve that problem, but it does take steps in that direction.

There are still some problems. Bike lanes and sidewalks are specifically mentioned while buses and trains are not. This is a problem because the infrastructure we need to build is rail. We need to stop thinking about construction and about using what we have more efficiently. Bikes should be able to use the roads that we have now safely. People should be able to walk safely in their own neighborhoods, especially if they live away from the urban core.

It also does not address the ways that planning departments are structured to decide to build a road or run a bus or build a bike lane, etc. before they have gathered any data about what really needs to be done. We need to be comparing different modes to each other. We need to realize that the same person can be a driver, a bike rider, a bus rider, and a pedestrian.

But this is a good first step towards spending our transportation dollars more effectively.

CDOT is presenting to Colorado's Joint Budget Committee Tomorrow

Thursday, January 3 at 1:30 pm
Joint Budget Committee Hearing Room
Legislative Service Building, 3rd Floor
200 East 14th Avenue
Denver, CO 80203
Bus: 6, 15, 15L

We need to stop building roads that we cannot afford to repair. Rep. Max Tyler, head of the Transportation Committee, says that he agrees with this. He says that people who work for the Colorado Department of Transportation agree with this. I wonder if that is what we are going to hear tomorrow.

I am also curious to see if CDOT presentation is clear and well-organized as most of their presentations seem not to be.