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RTD makes its case to state to approve airport train crossing gates, remove flaggers

The problems also stalled progress on the G Line between downtown and the western suburbs of Wheat Ridge and Arvada.

RTD officials and witnesses repeatedly said the crossing gates on the University of Colorado A Line are safe and working properly in testimony Thursday before a skeptical administrative law judge at the Colorado Public Utilities Commission.

In 2016, state and federal regulators spotted problems with the timing of the crossing gates — with the gates coming down too early and staying down too long as a train approached, sometimes up to 3 minutes.

That led to state and federal officials ordering flaggers be posted at the crossings to prevent frustrated drivers, pedestrians and bicyclists from driving around the gates and onto the tracks in front of an approaching train. The flaggers have been at the intersections since before the Regional Transportation District’s train started carrying passengers in April 2016.

RTD and its private contractor, the Denver Transit Partners, have been working on the systems for nearly two years to tighten the time frames. The problems also stalled progress on the G Line between downtown and the western suburbs of Wheat Ridge and Arvada. The G Line was supposed to open in October 2016.

Read more about RTD's many attempts to remove the flaggers at the Denver Business Journal.

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