Regional Collaboration in Transport Infrastructure Provision : the Case of Denver’s FasTracks Rail Transit Program

Cities across the United States are grappling with a looming transportation crisis as a result of ever-increasing passenger and freight transport demands and overburdened networks of aging infrastructure. All levels of government, but particularly state and local governments, need to develop innovative financing mechanisms and strong collaborations among stakeholders to maintain and enhance transportation infrastructure. This project examines how regional collaboration was achieved in the case of Denver‘s FasTracks rail transit program, a 122-mile extension of light and commuter rail in six corridors throughout the Denver metropolitan area to be completed over the next ten or so years. An impressive coalition of local governments, state and federal government, metropolitan economic development organizations, the business community, advocacy groups, and the general public was forged to provide financial support for the $6.7 billion project, now underway. The project also assesses conditions for the long-term sustainability of regional collaboration behind the FasTracks program, including whether it could serve as a model for other metropolitan areas confronted by the same issues. The report is organized into 6 sections including the Introduction. Section 2 examines the national context and discusses the emergence of new approaches to regional collaboration across the United States to deal with issues such as regional economic development and transportation infrastructure provision. These new 'bottom up‘ approaches can be contrasted with earlier 'top down‘ federal initiatives around metropolitan planning and political integration. Section 3 documents the history of metropolitan and regional planning in Denver, noting the failure of those regional special purpose districts and planning organizations set up in the 1960s and 1970s to build regional consensus on issues like economic development and transport infrastructure. Section 4 outlines the history of rail transit in Denver and provides some background to the development of the FasTracks program. Section 5 discusses the development of a new approach to regional collaboration in Denver since 1990, focusing on economic development and transportation infrastructure. Section 6 offers an evaluation of why and how regional collaboration in Denver has worked and what its future prospects are in relation to the recent financial problems facing the FasTracks program.

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