Downtown Boulder Bus Stops are Moving

Boulder is converting 14th Street near the bus station to pedestrian/bus/bike only. As such on May 29, 14th Street between Canyon and Walnut will be permanently closed to cars. Local buses will be moved for three months to the other side of Canyon, to 14th between Canyon and Arapahoe. Stops that are now on the east side of the street will remain on the east side of the street. Stops that are now on the west side of the street will remain on the west side of the street. On street parking will be removed during this time.

Any bus that goes inside the Boulder Transit Center building will continue to do so. All bus stops currently stop on Canyon or Walnut will remain exactly as they are now.

I think that it would be interesting for the City of Boulder to monitor clients of the businesses and events along 13th. I am more likely to go to the Dushanbe Tea House and the Boulder Museum of Contemporary Art. During this time, BMOCA is hosting an exhibition of paper art and the Dushanbe Tea House is hosting the Rocky Mountain Tea Festival.

It would be also interesting to see if more Boulder High School students start taking the bus as this moves all the downtown buses to within a block of the school. Although student ridership is pretty high already.

Questions:

1. Will pedestrian access to the Transit Center be blocked in any way? It looks like people can walk from Pearl Street just fine, but that access from Canyon may be blocked.

Here is the answer from the City of Boulder: "a sidewalk on one side of 14^th Street will be open at all times and the detour signage will guide walkers through the area."

Update: I have walked the whole area, and I could get everywhere with no safety issues.

No Light Rail within Denver Tomorrow (Almost)

Because of construction on the West Line, there will be no light rail between the Broadway and I-25 and Theater District/Convention Center stops this Saturday and Sunday (Dec. 8 and 9). The D line will run between downtown and 30th and Downing. Shuttles will serve the stops with no train service.

Amtrak Service Disruption Info Harder to Find

I thought that Amtrak used to put a sentence in orange on the web page of route that was going to be diverted or significantly late, but when I was researching my post on the California Zephyr's annual diversion, it was not there. I eventually found a "Service Disruptions" link in the left sidebar, but I had to look for it.

The "Service Alert" box with the lightening bolt is still there when you try to book on a date with a problem.

So pay attention when you are booking tickets on Amtrak.

California Zephyr Diversion Dates 2012

Every year UP diverts Amtrak's California Zephyr from its normal route between Denver and Salt Lake City to do track work. From Denver, the train runs to Laramie, Wyoming and Ogden, Utah before rejoining its normal route at Salt Lake City. It looks like the diversion is going to be earlier and shorter than it has in past years with trains running a different schedule from Wednesday, May 16 through Tuesday, May 22 and Friday June 1 through Thursday, June 7.

Update: Trains will depart Denver one hour earlier than usual on the above dates. So make sure to be at the station on time. Buses will only be provided for people going to Glenwood Springs and Grand Junction.

Those are the dates when the trains actually go through Wyoming. The trains leave Emeryville, CA or Chicago at least one day earlier. Trains going both directions are being diverted.

So if you want to take the train to the mountains on these dates, you are out of luck. However, if you want to see a different route, these may be the dates to book. If you are on board for a longer trip, don't worry about delays; this route takes less time than the usual one.

In fact, you should be worried about delays before hand. Trains will run at least three hours late going west through Colorado from Monday, April 16 through Monday, April 23 and from Tuesday, May 1 through Friday, May 4. Trains running east will be delayed Sunday, May 6 through Tuesday, May 8. People taking the train to Illinois on these days will not be able to make connections either in Galesburg or Chicago.

Here is a slideshow of what you can see along the route:

Auraria West Light Rail Station Remains Closed

There have been a lot of light rail station closures this summer as RTD prepared the new Millennium Bridge Station for the new light rail lines that will start running to the Union Station area in 2013. Most light rail stations in Denver have reopened, but the Auraria West Station will remain closed at least until Friday, September 30. When it reopens it will be one block west behind the Printing and Design Center.

RTD recommends that riders on the C and E lines use the Invesco at Mile High Station or ride the D or F lines to the Colfax at Auraria Station.

The last time that I took the light rail from Colfax and Auraria, there were more passengers than I remember, but the train was not that crowded. Hopefully, this change will not be too much of an inconvenience. It is too bad, though, that all the work could not be done before school started.

No Service

There is no train service between Minneapolis/St. Paul and Havre, MT because of flooding. No alternative transportation is being provided by ticket holders.

The train cannot run here because of flooding. No news as to why Amtrak cannot provide buses.