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 In November 2004, the residents of the Denver metro area passed the FasTracks initiative, a $4.9 billion expansion of the region?s light rail and bus system. The initiative, a collaborative effort of environmentalists, business and civic networks passed 58 to 42 percent. will be the largest and fastest expansion of any transit system in the country and has tremendous potential for affordable housing, transit-oriented development and walkable communities in a continually growing metropolitan area.
The success of the FasTracks initiative did not come easily to the Denver region. A previous initiativeGuide the Ridefailed seven years earlier; ironically by the same margin. Guide the Ride was viewed by most citizens as the expert?s transit plan for the region; supported by a loose coalition of environmentalists, planners, business leaders and the regional public transit agency. In efforts to broaden the appeal to voters, as the campaign took place so many additions were included that the plan fell of it own weightand expense.
Within weeks of Guide the Ride?s failure at the polls, a number of its supporters gathered to assess what went wrong and how to proceed. It was quickly recognized that little community buy-in had occurred and that the plan was viewed as too complex. Voters did not know exactly what they were being asked to pay for. While polls indicated that the public was in favor of expanding public transportation for the metro area; they also indicated the public?s frugality regarding transit spending and the role of government in advocating such spending. Guide the Ride was driven by transportation planners view that the metro area had to have a comprehensive rail-based transit system, which was seen as dependent on new tax dollars for its financing.
A new, broader coalition was formed to undertake a multi-year educational and informational campaign to frame FasTracks as an economic development and livability initiative. The Transit Alliance was established as a coalition of local officials, business leaders and environmentalists, as the organization to promote a new transit initiative. The Transit Alliance endorsed public transit as part of a balanced, multi-modal transportation network that contributed to the economic vitality, quality of life and environment of the Denver region. The Transit Alliance was funded by the business community and local governments and staffed by environmentalists. Critical to its success was the active participation and leadership of the Metro Mayors Caucus, an organization that achieves consensus among the region?s elected municipal officials. The Metro Mayors Caucus brought legitimacy to the necessary consensus building that had to ensue, and enhanced the effort?s reputation.
From the outset, FasTracks was framed not just as a transit campaign, but as a catalyst to improve the economic development and quality of life for the entire seven county metro area. FasTracks was the means to an end; thus it was viewed as transit pragmatism. The FasTracks coalition was able to show how transit could positively affect current in-fill and redevelopment projects throughout the metro area. Such projects didn?t exist seven years earlier when Guide the Ride was on the ballot. Voters had the benefit of the success of the Englewood Town Center, an inner-ring, first generation suburb that had redeveloped its out-dated shopping mall into a successful, vibrant transit-oriented downtown development. The Town Center had helped turned around Englewood?s desperate financial straits. Several similar projects underway throughout the metro area promised similar results.
While FasTracks serves as a model for boundary crossing collaboration, significant challenges await. The Denver metro area has new money for transit development. However, the two major agencies charged with planning, building and managing the transit system historically have not been engaged in implementing the ancillary aspects under which FasTracks was sold to the voterseconomic development, affordable housing, transit oriented development and walkable communities. The regions is working to identifyi the organizations and structure that can ensure implementation of this part of the challenge. There certainly are roles for the Metro Mayors Caucus and the Transit Alliance, but there are other organizations and institutions that need to be involved. As occurred during the campaign, new partnerships and working relationships will be developed because leaders remain committed to the FasTracks collaborative model and continue to search for the appropriate implementation model.
For more information on FasTracks go to . For more info on the community impacts of FasTracks, see reports at www.livablecenter.org or contact Rich McClintock at the Livable Communities Support Center, a program of Civic Results, at or .
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