Metro North Ideally Positioned for Transportation
Published Apr 17, 2007
The Burlington Northern Santa Fe and Union Pacific railroads move hundreds of tons of freight through the region daily.
Travel plans? The Metro North Region is ready to help.
The area is blessed with a transportation system that is ideal for moving people and goods.
Trucking companies take advantage of the interstate highways threading through the Denver area, while companies also have an easy time shipping cargo by rail. One of the nation’s most modern international airports is nearby, as are two smaller airports for corporate aircraft.
In addition, public transportation is going to become a major part of passenger travel in the next decade – much more than it already is.
“We are transportation rich when you look at the cities in Metro North and realize all of the transportation options that are available to us,” says Deborah Obermeyer, president and chief executive officer of the Metro North Chamber of Commerce.
For highway travel today, several thoroughfares interconnect so that there is rarely heavy congestion going north on Interstate 25, the main arterial road through the region.
“We connect with U.S. Highway 36, Interstate 76 and the E-470 toll road, and our individual cities and counties have tackled projects to build roads over I-25 that connect cities together,” Obermeyer says. “The municipalities around here have some very proactive thinkers when it comes to moving motorists and hauling freight in this region.”
For air travel, Denver International Airport – one of the nation’s largest hubs – is northeast of downtown Denver and within a half-hour’s drive of most communities in the Metro North Region.
“There is also Jefferson County Airport as well as Front Range Airport, which just opened a new tower so that it can handle larger corporate aircraft,” Obermeyer says.
Rail continues to be a major economic player in the region, with haulers such as Burlington Northern Santa Fe and Union Pacific moving hundreds of tons of freight each day.
But perhaps the biggest rail transportation news here is FasTracks, a commuter rail and bus transit program being overseen by the Regional Transportation District.
In November 2004, area voters passed a $4.7 billion, 12-year plan to add six rail transit corridors to the Denver metropolitan area. Two of the corridors will benefit northside commuters.
One of the corridors, fittingly called North Metro, will stretch from downtown Denver to Commerce City, Thornton, Northglenn and part of Westminster. The other corridor, called U.S. 36, will extend from downtown Denver to Westminster, Broomfield, Louisville, Boulder and Longmont.
Once FasTracks is fully operational – scheduled for 2015 or 2016 – estimates are that 12,000 residents will ride the North Metro line daily, while 10,000 commuters will travel along the U.S. 36 corridor.
“There will also be an excellent bus system to pick up people from drop-off points along the FasTracks corridor and then take those passengers even closer to their respective homes and businesses,” says Bill Christopher, board member with the Regional Transportation District. “The North Metro Region is one of the fastest-growing parts of suburban Denver, and FasTracks will be an excellent way to move all these people around in a quick and efficient manner.”
People and goods continue to move efficiently through the region even during the winter.
“The national perception is that the Denver metropolitan region gets a lot of snow, but weather here is actually quite mild,” Christopher says. “We get a blizzard every two or three years that gets national attention on a Monday Night Football game, but we really live in a semiarid region.
“Being a mile high, snow melts quickly because of the intensity of the sun. Plus, all the snow equipment that everyone has around here keeps the highways, railways and runways clear so that transportation can keep moving at optimum speed.”
Story by Kevin Litwin
Photo by Antony Boshier
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