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RTD owns an old rail line to Boulder. It may become a bicycle trail

RTD owns an old rail line to Boulder. It may become a bicycle trail

Boulder County wants to use this old, unused RTD-owned rail line that connects Erie to Boulder. Nov. 18, 2024. Just east of Boulder lies an…

Friday, Nov 29

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Boulder County wants to use this old, unused RTD-owned rail line that connects Erie to Boulder. Nov. 18, 2024. Just east of Boulder lies an out-of-service rail line owned by the Regional Transportation District, the very organization that famously has yet to deliver on its promise of passenger rail to the city.

This line, unfortunately for rail-starved Boulderites, doesn’t go toward Longmont or Denver, where the Northwest Rail Line will perhaps someday carry passengers. Rather, it goes roughly straight east to Erie where RTD has no plans to provide rail service.

But the old rail line could still have a use. The Boulder County Commission last month approved a plan to build a bicycle and pedestrian trail between fast-growing Erie and Boulder, with the RTD property the early favorite to host the path.

“There’s no safe connection between Erie and Boulder,” Tonya Luebbert, regional trails planner with Boulder County, said in an interview. “We are trying to provide that.” Tonya Luebbert, regional trails planner with Boulder County, poses for a portrait over an old rail line. Nov. 18, 2024. Wait a minute. Why does RTD own this land anyway?

In the late 2000s, RTD paid Union Pacific $185 million for property it used to build three rail lines: the A, G and N lines. The N line property stretches for 33 miles from Denver through Thornton, where the N Line ends now, to Erie and, ultimately, to the east side of Boulder.

RTD still hopes to extend the N Line to State Highway […]

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