Denver Transit Construction Group, the contractor for the Regional Transportation District’s West Corridor Light Rail Project, has been issued a notice to move into full construction.
 
RTD and the Denver Transit Construction Group, a joint venture of Herzog Contracting Corp. of St. Joseph, Mo., and Stacy & Witbeck Inc. of Alameda, Calif., have signed the construction agreement, which triggers a formal Notice to Proceed for the contractor to mobilize into major construction.
 
West Corridor is the first of the FasTracks corridors to begin construction. While early construction on the 12.1-mile light rail project has been under way since mid-2008, this progress signals the first full construction of a FasTracks rail project.
 
“As our construction crews go to work all along the West Corridor, people will now see that what they voted for in 2004 is coming to life,” said RTD General Manager Cal Marsella. “We have made great progress on FasTracks over the past four years through the environmental and design processes, and now construction is the clear, visible sign that FasTracks is coming to a community near you.”
 
As Denver Transit Construction Group kicks off full construction, major operations will begin along West 6th Avenue. Crews will be placing concrete traffic barriers along the south side of 6th Avenue west of Union to prepare for construction of more than 3,000 ft of retaining walls.
 
Other operations will include construction of the bridges over 6th Avenue east of Simms/Union, the massive flyover bridge spanning 6th Avenue and Indiana Street and the bridge over Colfax Avenue east of 6th Avenue.
 
Construction already in progress in the Lakewood Dry Gulch will increase, with wall construction and continuing operations to realign the channel. The pedestrian bridges at Tennyson Street and Hazel Court will be set in July.
 
The West Corridor line will operate between Denver Union Station in downtown Denver and the Jefferson County Government Center, serving Denver, Lakewood, the Denver Federal Center, Golden and Jefferson County. The corridor is scheduled to open to the public in 2013, one year ahead of schedule.
 
FasTracks is RTD’s voter-approved 12-year program to expand rail and bus service throughout the RTD service area. Scheduled for completion in 2017, FasTracks will build 122 miles of rail transit, including six new commuter rail and light rail lines and extensions of three existing lines; 18 miles of bus rapid transit service, 21,000 new parking spaces, redevelop Denver Union Station and redirect bus service to better connect the eight-county District. FasTracks is projected to create more than 10,000 jobs during the height of construction and will pump billions of dollars into the regional economy.