The Steamboat Pilot & Today

Steamboat Springs — The Steamboat Springs Rotary Club was briefed Tuesday by the chairman of a group that is exploring high-speed passenger rail service that could include a spur extending from South Routt to Craig.

The Rocky Mountain Rail Authority is overseeing a $1.6 million feasibility study of installing modern rail track along the Interstate 70 and Interstate 25 corridors. The system could continue into Wyoming and potentially tie in to similar rail networks already in the works in Utah and New Mexico. It is anticipated the I-70 stretch would include two major spurs: one to Aspen and another through South Routt, Steamboat and Craig.

“Ultimately, we would like to see a rail network that would connect (Denver International Airport) to virtually every area of the state,” Chairman Harry Dale, a Clear Creek County commissioner, told Rotarians.

Dale said a new transportation model is necessary because of the impending onset of “peak oil,” a situation where a large gap develops between the amount of the world’s oil production and its demand.

“When that gap occurs, you see a very significant spike in the price,” Dale said. “A lot of people think we’re already seeing that, but the pain is just beginning.”

Dale said the impending oil crisis is a bigger concern than climate change because it is more immediate. He said passenger rail could be a solution.

“It is the most energy-efficient and environmentally friendly alternative,” Dale said.

Dale said one gallon of fuel can transport one ton of freight 59 miles by truck and 202 miles by rail.

Dale acknowledged the significant impediments that could derail efforts to install a statewide passenger train network. He conceded that while there may be enough people on the Front Range to justify a rail network, that may not be the case along the I-70 corridor through the Western Slope. Dale said the feasibility study will answer several key questions and determine future steps.

“We think a lot of this stuff could be built in five to 10 years if the money and political will were there,” Dale said. “I think it would be very optimistic to say between 2015 to 2020 to have something on the ground and working. More realistically is probably 2025.”

Rail service and other modes of transportation will continue to be discussed today and Thursday as part of the Steamboat Springs Chamber Economic Development Council’s 2008 Economic Sum­mit, which is called “Planes, Trains and Automobiles: Transportation and our Economic Future.”

The summit kicks off tonight with registration beginning at 5:30 p.m. At 6:30 p.m., Colorado Department of Trans­portation Director Russell George and Carla Perez, Gov. Bill Ritter’s senior transportation analyst, will deliver an address called “The State of the State on Transportation and the Economy: Building a Multi-modal Transportation System for the 21st Century.”

For more information on the summit, call the Steamboat Springs Chamber Resort Association at 875-7000 or visit www.steamboatchamber.com.