City Council Minutes 1992 07 08 - Laserfiche WebLink

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Mayer: Baskett: Sisk: not as far along with compressed natural gas, but we do have five buses that are operating on compressed natural gas. They cost about 2 to 2 1/2 times as much as a diesel bus does to operate. Other alternate fuels that are available are quite expensive. What would be the plans for this area for light rail? The bus lane has been built with the idea that it could be converted to a light rail facility. It was done so that it's barrier separated in the middle, a width that is wider than is really necessary, so we would be able to convert that corridor in the future. That's quite a ways off. Right now we're spending the funds that we have available locally to build a five mile demonstration line. At the present time, in the Federal funding area in the next six years there's approximately $2.5 to $3 million available for rapid transit development and there's over $9 billion that has already been requested and earmarked by Congress should the funds become available to fund rapid transit. It appears that it will be a long time before we could expect significant Federal funds. So, light rail will not be headed north for a long time. I think that there are a number of parallels of what we're trying for. Sacramento and Portland are the two that come quickly to mind. Sacramento has two branches that go out in both directions from downtown. This project is close to being one of those branches. Portland sent their line 15 miles in one direction and they are just now sending it in the other direction. What is the time schedule to get the light rail out to the Denver International Airport? Is it currently being planned? 5