Gold Line EIS

The Gold Line Final Environmental Impact Statement will contain the comprehensive environmental analysis and proposed mitigation measures for the FasTracks rail line proposed to run from Denver Union Station to Ward Road in Wheat Ridge. For more information and background on what an Environmental Impact Statement is, please visit the What is an EIS? webpage.

After two years of screening and analysis, the Gold Line Draft Environmental Impact Statement (DEIS) was made available to the public on July 18, 2008. The publication of the DEIS kicked off a 45-day public comment period, including two public hearings, that concluded on September 1, 2008. As a supplement to the Gold Line EIS, the Federal Transit Administration has also directed RTD to prepare a Supplemental Environmental Assessment (EA) of the Commuter Rail Maintenance Facility (CRMF). This maintenance facility will be used to repair, maintain, clean, fuel and store the vehicles that will serve the four FasTracks commuter rail projects (the Gold Line, East Corridor, Northwest Rail and North Metro lines). The CRMF Supplemental EA was made available to the public on April 15, 2009, and the comment period for the document concluded on May 15, 2009.

For more information on the Gold Line Draft Environmental Impact Statement (DEIS) or the Commuter Rail Maintenance Facility Supplemental Environmental Assessment (EA) you can click on the following links to:

RTD is currently working on the Gold Line Final Environmental Impact Statement (FEIS). Scheduled for publication this summer, the final document will include more detailed engineering of the proposed project and responses to all the comments that were submitted on the Gold Line Draft Environmental Impact Statement and the Commuter Rail Maintenance Facility Supplemental EA.

Following the publication of the Gold Line FEIS, there will be a 30-day public comment period that includes two public meetings. The final document will then be submitted to the Federal Transit Administration (FTA) for approval, which is issued through a Record of Decision (ROD). RTD plans to receive the final decision document from the FTA this fall. Construction on the Gold Line is anticipated to begin by 2011, with the line opening to the public in 2016.