RTD wants to suspend some light rail lines in Denver for reconstruction

An RTD commuter train heading to Union Station. (Photo: Regional Transportation District)

DENVER (KDVR) — There will be no light rail service in the Regional Transportation District’s central corridor from May 26 through September.

That’s because RTD begins a four-phase downtown rail upgrade project on May 26. The project is the largest project RTD has ever undertaken. The final three phases are scheduled to be completed in 2025 Reconstruction of the Avenue Alignment and Welton Street Corridor.

The first phase of the $152 million project will focus on five track segments at street intersections in the Downtown Loop. The five ground-level (street level) railway and street intersections to be reconstructed are located at:

• 15th and Stout
• 17th and Stout
• 15th and California
• 17th and California
• Broadway and Welton

The crossing work will not be carried out at the same time. Instead, RTD is planning a work plan that “takes into account traffic impacts” and will be implemented in collaboration with the Denver government. However, traffic in the area may be merged into one lane or diverted around intersections for a limited time during the project period.

Specific temporal implications for the RTD service

Starting May 26, all trains on the D and H lines will be rerouted to Denver Union Station. At the same time, the L Line connecting 30th and Downing Station to the downtown loop will be discontinued.

RTD emphasized that there will be no light rail service in the central corridor until September 2024. After completing the first phase of the project in September, teams will pause reconstruction work until 2025 and all light rail services will return to normal operations in the fall and winter.

Additionally, RTD bus routes that operate along 15th and 17th Streets may be temporarily impacted during the project, and the agency is working to limit any detours downtown.

As the D and H lines are rerouted to Denver Union Station, RTD plans to temporarily reinstate its free MetroRide service, which will run along 18th and 19th streets. RTD said its Free MallRide and MetroRide routes will provide multiple stops between Union Station and Civic Center Station.

A full list of RTD’s May 2024 service changes is available online.

The first RTD reconstruction project of its kind

RTD calls the reconstruction the first of its kind in the agency’s history. According to RTD, intracity rail service began in October 1994 with a 5.3-mile stretch to connect 30th and Downing to Interstate 25.

According to RTD, some of this rail infrastructure has existed for 30 years and has been expanded to accommodate increasing ridership.

To rebuild, teams will remove all existing rail infrastructure. This includes concrete, railroad ties and gravel. At the same time, teams will tackle the drains beneath the 30-year-old rail and then completely rebuild each segment.