THE ARAPAHOE ROAD NOT TAKEN
NOT IN THEIR BACKYARD
1 BOOK 1 CAMPUS
NEWS | PG 2
NEWS | PG 2
SCHOOL | PG 9
Centennial stalls ballot measure with business regs
Cherry Hills taking maintenance facility to Sheridan
S O U T H
M E T R O
Mystery author intrigues Campus Middle School
VOLUME 35 • NUMBER 15 • MARCH 2, 2017
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Transit & Development ‘R’ Us RTD’s new R Line — Lone Tree to Aurora — hits the tracks running
The public lines up for free rides on Feb. 24, the first day of the 22-mile R Line. Photos by Stefan Krusze
Aurora Mayor Steve Hogan sees the new R Line as a return to the former streetcar city’s public-transportation glory days. Here, he holds a vintage black and white photo of East Colfax’s “Welcome to Aurora” sign.
in February,” said the city’s Mayor Steve Hogan last week in the rela“A lot of people said it would be a tive warmth of a tent as 20-somecold day in February before Aurora thing temperatures chilled RTD’s had light rail—well, it’s a cold day new Iliff Avenue light rail station. The occasion was the Feb. 24 grand opening of the new $687 million R Line, which runs 22 miles from Lone Tree through Centennial and Greenwood Village along I-25 before heading northeast beside I-225 into Aurora, winding up at the Peoria station near I-70. From there, commuters can take the A Line to Denver International Airport or Union Station. “We recognize how important FasTracks has been in connecting our communities, and of course our region through rail,” Denver Mayor Michael Hancock said, referencing this part of a multibillion-dollar public-transportation expansion approved in 2004 by voters in eight counties. “The R Line is another opportunity for all of us.” Regional Transportation District projects about 12,000 people will ride the line every weekday. The City of Aurora, which invested nearly $40 million in the expansion, has seen the R Line as
a sort of a return to past glories for the second-largest city in the metro area. “Transit is in the DNA of Aurora,” Hogan told the assembly of public officials, press and citizens. “About 120 years ago, we actually began as a streetcar community. … Aurora is clearly once again the gateway to the Rockies. The difference today is we are a big city.” As its neighbor Greenwood Village resists high-density development, the third-largest city in Colorado sees the R Line as its ticket in the opposite direction—toward what City Manager Skip Noe called “vertical urban development,” targeting millennials to seniors. “It’s an opportunity for us to build not just development, but places,” he said. Added Hogan, “I believe firmly that future generations of those in Aurora will look back at Continued on page 10
Transit is in the DNA of Aurora.
- Mayor Steve Hogan