Western Railroad Discussion > Joint Line CO relocation article

For those interested, there was a blurb in yesterday's Denver Post about the proposal to relocate Joint Line traffic. The essence of it is (as it always has been and will be for the foreseeable future): "it's a good idea but how do we pay for it.

Maybe when oil prices get high enough, people will find a way. "Where there's a whip, there's a will," as one of J.R.R. Tolkein's orcs said to Frodo in Mordor.

http://www.denverpost.com/portlet/article/html/fragments/print_article.jsp?article=2729309

Thanks for posting. There is one thing in particular about the article (and this study, it sounds like) that seems wrong to me:

"Residents of metro Denver will benefit from relocating freight lines because much of the time commuters waste at rail crossings as 100-car coal trains creep through the city can be eliminated, Norton said."

Twenty years ago, this would have been totally true. Today, however, the first (public) grade crossing I can think of on the Joint is south of Blakeland, down around Titan Road and Big Lift. In the last twenty years, Mineral, Hapden, Oxford, County Line, etc, all have grade separations these days. Thus, I'm not sure where the bottleneck is for commuters as far as trains on the Joint go. Perhaps Walnut street or one of those street closer to downtown near Burnham?

Interesting article. I don't see this line being built anytime in the near future though.

Kevin

the only major crossing is Santa Fe and Kalamath perhaps 13th st. That is outdated reporting. There have been talks about including it in I 25 reconstruction, Broadway 6th ave segment, inc the Sante Fe intersection.

Yeah, I found that quote weird too. The last "big" roads that met the Joint Line at grade were Titan Road and County Line Road, but they've been since seperated by bridges over (Titan) and under (County Line) the ROW...

There's a couple of crossings near the Colfax Viaduct, and one sort-of main road that has Light Rail and the Joint Line at grade. (8th Avenue, maybe?) And, of course, the crossings at Kalamath and Santa Fe, just Northeast of I-25. (Probably the "bottleneck" the Post refers to - bring a 125-car loaded coaler through there at 4:30 PM, and watch the motorists come to a slow boil... Does a pretty good job of snarling Alemeda Avenue, too.)

They don't need to move the Joint Line east - just seperate those last few crossings. A lot cheaper in the long run. Who knows, we may see the UP/Pecos Street grade seperation in the next 40 years or so! Just schedule an Adams County meeting of some kind on Pecos with the tracks between them and their destination, and pray they change their tune...

- Dave
MP 8.0, BNSF Front Range Sub.
Arvada/Westminster (Semper), CO

dan Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> the only major crossing is Santa Fe and Kalamath
> perhaps 13th st. That is outdated reporting.


Thanks Dan...I forgot about these two crossing! Still, it isn't anything like it was a couple decades ago.

Kevin

dasheight Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Who knows, we may see the UP/Pecos Street grade
> seperation in the next 40 years or so! Just schedule
> an Adams County meeting of some kind on Pecos with
> the tracks between them and their destination, and
> pray they change their tune...
>
> - Dave
> MP 8.0, BNSF Front Range Sub.
> Arvada/Westminster (Semper), CO
>
>

Hi Dave-

It is my understanding that the grade separation at Pecos has already been approved and that ground breaking on the project is supposed to start late spring/early summer. I heard that Adams County quickly learned that they made a mistake by not lowering Pecos when the bypass was built, and have agreed to lower it now!

Kevin

FrontRange Wrote:
> It is my understanding that the grade separation
> at Pecos has already been approved and that ground
> breaking on the project is supposed to start late
> spring/early summer. I heard that Adams County
> quickly learned that they made a mistake by not
> lowering Pecos when the bypass was built, and have
> agreed to lower it now!

I think you just made my sister, who has to cross those tracks to get to and from work, very happy indeed. Next stop, Kalamath!

- Dave
MP 8.0 BNSF Front Range Sub.