RFTA board votes to cover $2M+ funding gap for Glenwood’s 27th Street underpass project
The Roaring Fork Transportation Authority board has agreed to make up the funding difference for a planned underpass at 27th Street in Glenwood Springs to better service the South Glenwood bus station.
The inter-governmental RFTA board voted 8-0 Thursday to approve the $2.27 million estimated funding gap for the grade-separated underpass.
The project will use Destination 2040 Plan funding not spent for other service improvements that had been slated for Glenwood Springs in 2019.
Those delayed improvements had amounted to approximately $700,000 per year. They included the proposed extension of Bus Rapid Transit service from 27th Street to downtown Glenwood, and the resumption of local bus service along the Highway 6 & 24.
Those system improvements are still on the planning table, but have been delayed pending the outcome of the city’s jointly funded MOVE Study.
“Finalization of plans by Glenwood Springs regarding its intentions to reconfigure the Ride Glenwood service and, most likely, a reduction in the COVID-19 threat, should signal economic improvement and ridership recovery, and allow RFTA to get back on track with its pre-COVID-19 service plan,” RFTA CEO Dan Blankenship said following the Thursday board meeting.
Glenwood Springs City Council last week moved forward the plan to prioritize the pedestrian underpass at 27th Street and South Glen/Colorado Highway 82.
More than $2 million was still needed to complete the $10.1 million crossing, which was approved by City Council in August to improve safety at the busy intersection.
RFTA had already allocated nearly $4.3 million for the underpass through the Destination 2040 initiative, which was approved by voters three years ago through a new property tax and mill levy.
The agency also received more than $3 million in state and Colorado Department of Transportation funding for the project. Glenwood Springs set aside $500,000 in the city’s 2021 budget to leverage grants, but failed to secure a $1 million Garfield County Federal Mineral Lease District grant.
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