DENVER RTD inaugurated its 14 km Southwest light rail line from I25/Broadway to Mineral Avenue in the suburb of Littleton on July 14. Parallelling existing BNSF and UP tracks, the route has four intermediate stops at Evans, Englewood, Oxford and Littleton/Downtown. Journey time on the extension is 14min, with services running through to the northern terminus at 30th & Downing in 36min.
Two and three car trains operate every 15 min off peak, and at 10min intervals during peak times. Daily ridership at the end of the first week was around 30% above RTD’s estimates. Car parks at the two Littleton stations, which total nearly 1 150 spaces, were filled by 07.30. Additional spaces were to be provided at Mineral Avenue by the end of August.
RTD expects to open its next extension, the Central Platte Valley Spur, during 2001. The 30·5 km Southeast line along the I25/I225 corridor from Broadway to Lincoln Avenue and Parker is to be completed in 2008.
