Colorado voters may be confronted next year with a referendum asking for new taxes to fund construction of a long-planned passenger rail service.
That service, as envisioned, would be supported by the building of 180 miles of tracks from Fort Collins in the north to Pueblo in the south, running roughly adjacent to Interstate 25.
An eventual future expansion of the line could well include parts of Wyoming and New Mexico.
A November 2024 referendum, as pushed by Colorado Governor Jared Polis, would propose funding for a project that some experts believe could eventually cost as much $14 billion to completely build out.
According to an earlier study, the Front Range rail service would have the ability to accommodate up to 2 million passengers a year in the eastern half of Colorado that is seeing the greatest population growth.
State officials have previously commissioned technical studies laying out the scope and parameters of the new line and have been buttressed by public opinion polls showing that nearly two-thirds of voters support the creation of the service.
To move things along, members of the Colorado State Legislature voted to approve a Front Range Passenger Rail District, which became official in the summer of 2022 and is empowered to study and design the new line.
The district will also be tasked with maintaining the rail line itself should it someday become operative.
State officials throughout the West have been particularly interested in the passenger rail question primarily because so much funding out of Washington, in the tens of billions, is currently in play.
Speaking to a gathering of transportation experts last week, Polis, according to the site Colorado Newsline, remarked: “It’s not a question of whether there’s going to be any passenger rail service within the United States, but the question is, will Colorado get a train, or will Texas or California get a train?”
The Governor added: “We want to make sure Colorado gets passenger rail.”
Supporters of building the Front Range rail service have worried that even though opinion polls have shown support for the concept, a backlash over raising taxes may doom the referendum.
At the same time, they note that putting the question on the November 2024 ballot at the same time as the presidential election would guarantee a larger voter turnout presumed to favor of the proposal.
By Garry Boulard
