The Regional Transportation District’s R-Line will begin train service Friday morning to Aurora, Denver and Lone Tree.
Patrons can ride the line for free between 11 a.m. and 9 p.m.
A ribbon cutting will be 10 a.m. and 11 a.m. at the Iliff Station on Blackhawk Street at Iliff Avenue.
Tomorrow's the day! 22 miles of new light rail service opens on R Line @ 11am. Free R Line rides until 9pm on 2/24. https://t.co/eqhXYEZL4y pic.twitter.com/DySh1TFKeM
— RTD (@RideRTD) February 23, 2017
The 22-mile R-Line, which runs from Lincoln Station in Lone Tree to Peoria Station in Aurora allows commuters to ride the new line to Peoria and easily transfer to the University of Colorado A-Line, which provides access to downtown Denver and to Denver International Airport.
According to the RTD schedule for the R-Line, a trip from end to end should take just under an hour.
Aurora Mayor Steve Hogan said his city of 350,000 has been preparing for this for a long time, with various projects sprouting up around the eight new light-rail stations that will go live Friday. That includes the burgeoning Anschutz medical complex at the north end of the line, the new Veterans Administration Hospital, a hotel at the Second Avenue stop and new developments around Aurora Metro Center Station.
The R-Line, which serves 16 stations and is expected to have daily ridership of 12,000 one year after it opens, jumped from concept to reality nearly five years ago, when RTD picked Kiewit Infrastructure Co. to complete the unbuilt portion of the line through Aurora. At the time, Kiewit said it expected to finish the line in November 2015 at a cost of $350 million.
RTD spokesman Scott Reed said Kiewit’s costs were in line with its estimates, but with right-of-way acquisitions, environmental studies, the purchase of 19 light-rail vehicles and insurance, the total project cost was closer to $700 million.
A deaf refugee from Myanmar walking across metro-Denver light rail tracks Sunday afternoon was hit by a train and killed during a test of the R-Line in Aurora. RTD officials said their warning system of flashing lights was functioning properly.
