Denver International Airport officials are trying to make it easier to get to and from the rapidly growing airport -- and they appear to be focusing most on widening Peña Boulevard.
That has caused some policymakers and public transit advocates to ask: Why not instead fund improvements to the Regional Transportation District's A Line that connects the airport to downtown Denver?
DIA officials have said repeatedly that they can't, citing federal restrictions that block the use of airport revenue for non-airport expenses.
"We look to partner with RTD on anything we can," DIA CEO Phil Washington told Denverite in August. "We can't just dish out money though."
But airport officials already have used DIA revenue to help pay for some A Line infrastructure, and examples from other U.S. cities suggest it is possible for airports to use their funding streams to help pay for certain transit improvements.
Such a move would take careful navigation of complex federal laws and policies. It would also require DIA and RTD to develop an improvement plan and then submit it to the Federal Aviation Administration for approval.
But it appears that hasn't happened yet. Denverite requested and reviewed copies of all recent letters between DIA and the FAA related to Peña Boulevard and the A Line. None show any indication that DIA has requested permission from the federal government to fund improvements that would allow the A Line to run more often. RTD says it has no A Line improvement plans either.
Officials with DIA did not respond to Denverite's questions about the A Line before this article was published.
The fact that airport leaders haven't even asked the FAA to weigh in is a sign they don't want to fund transit improvements, said former airport CFO Stan Koniz. He said DIA officials appear to be "hiding behind a thin veil" by blaming the federal restrictions.
"Now, whether or not they actually go to the FAA and ask them -- I think they avoid that so as not to have a record of the proceedings," he said. "They can certainly use that as a shield."
What are these federal laws all about anyway?
Airports, unlike many government agencies, can be revenue-generating machines. But airlines, passengers, and other industry interests historically didn't want to help fund local government services that have nothing to do with air travel.
So, Congress passed laws starting decades ago that limit how airports can spend their money. A key law from 1982 requires airports to accept strict rules in exchange for receiving federal grants.
"Airport revenue can only be used for the capital and operating costs of an airport," said Peter Kirsch, a Denver-based lawyer with Kaplan Kirsch Rockwell, who specializes in airport law. That firm is currently representing DIA but not on revenue diversion issues.
The FAA decides what are legitimate airport expenses. DIA, for example, asked the FAA to weigh in on how much it could spend on improvements to different sections of Peña Boulevard, records show.
The FAA declared in 2017 that DIA could use airport revenue to fully pay for the widening of Peña from E-470 to the airport.
However, the section between Interstate 70 and E-470 was different. DIA estimated that just 73 percent of drivers on that segment were going to or from the airport; the rest was local traffic. So, the FAA capped the percentage that DIA could contribute to any projects on that segment at 73 percent. The difference must be made up from other sources.
The case for transit
The A Line was the centerpiece of RTD's big 2004 FasTracks expansion plan and is by far the agency's most popular rail line today. It carried 639,000 passengers in July alone, but the rail line is still dwarfed by vehicle traffic on the main airport roadway: Peña Boulevard, which, by contrast, carried more than 100,000 vehicles per day as of 2019.
The airport rail line is not as robust as it could be. To save money during construction, RTD, under its then-leader Phil Washington -- now the DIA CEO -- cut some corners. Two sections of the 23-mile line were downgraded to a single track to save money. Those sections and track constraints near Union Station are key reasons the A Line can't run more often than every 15 minutes.
RTD said it has no cost estimates or plans for upgrading the A Line.
Transit advocates, including Greater Denver Transit, the Denver Streets Partnership, and the Colorado Cross Disability Coalition, want the airport to study A Line improvements, plus increased bus service, lower fares, and better usage of the nearby E-470 tollway.
"With the right investments, taking public transit to Denver International Airport can be the most convenient, dependable option for thousands more travelers and workers -- but only if transit is considered in the planning process," the groups wrote in a letter this week to Denver Mayor Mike Johnston.
They say widening Peña Boulevard would contradict the city's goals of reducing climate emissions and shifting trips away from driving and toward transit and other cleaner methods.
Airport officials, meanwhile, say adding toll lanes, which transit buses could use, would incentivize more travelers to use transit. They even predict that the highway expansion would reduce greenhouse gas emissions and the number of single-occupant vehicles on the road. Researchers, however, are skeptical of such claims.
The FAA has already said DIA can pay for *some* A Line expenses.
Transit advocates also suggest the FAA would allow the airport to help fund A Line upgrades, at least on a section between the 61st and Peña station and the airport itself. Anyone on the train at that point would be traveling to or from the airport, they point out.
DIA has already paid for some A Line infrastructure, including the 61st and Peña station and the airport station. The airport, under its previous CEO, also wanted to fund a designer bridge for the A Line over Peña Boulevard but ultimately dropped that plan over its high cost.
The airport's A Line-related spending was approved by the FAA, said Dan Reimer, an attorney who specializes in airport law and the former supervisor of the airport's legal department.
"Everything associated with the A Line ... both the track and the stations, were all done in conformance with FAA standards and in coordination with the FAA," Reimer said.
The FAA in 2010 signed off on a lengthy legal agreement between the city and RTD. It also added that the city could "generally assume" that the airport could pay for improvements to the airport terminal and construction of the airport rail station.
"Conversely, airport revenues cannot be used to purchase rail cars, construct a rail maintenance facility or make any infrastructure improvements that support rail operations off airport property," FAA officials wrote.
One single-track segment of the A Line is indeed already on DIA's property -- from approximately the 61st and Peña station to just past E-470.
But the A Line itself is owned by RTD. And federal policy says a ground transportation facility must be owned or operated by the airport to receive airport revenue. That's why it's easier for DIA to spend its money on Peña Boulevard, which it owns, over the A Line, Reimer said.
"That's a critical part of the calculation," Reimer said.
The FAA may be shifting its vibe to be more transit- friendly. But there's little local energy for it
The FAA did not answer a question about whether DIA's claim that it could not pay for A Line improvements was accurate, only saying that DIA was subject to its policies.
The FAA has allowed airports in San Francisco, the Twin Cities, Portland and New York to help fund transit infrastructure to a limited extent. One legal expert who explored the details of each of those instances argued that federal restrictions are "excessively restrictive" and should be loosened.
That appears to be happening in recent years, said Kirsch, the airport lawyer with Kaplan Kirsch Rockwell.
"I would even say it's a paradigm shift, certainly an attitude shift, by the FAA in the last several years that has recognized that mass transit connections to an airport are a very good thing," he said.
Koniz, the former DIA CFO, said current airport officials have a good pitch for the FAA -- if they choose to make it.
"A lot of it depends on whether or not the airport wants to make a case for it," Koniz said. "They're kind of hand-in-glove -- the airport and the FAA."
Beyond local transit advocates, there appears to be little enthusiasm for A Line improvements at the top of the organization that would have to actually make them: RTD. Its leaders say they aren't aware of any A Line improvement projects -- and can't take any on either.
"... RTD does not have the operational or financial capacity to entertain an undertaking of this scope between Denver Union Station and the Denver International Airport," read a joint statement from board chair Lynn Guissinger and CEO Debra Johnson.
It's also possible that the city could use non-airport money to improve the A Line. Denver Mayor Mike Johnston, who controls Denver's purse strings, said during the campaign that he'd rather see transit improvements over a highway expansion.
But in a new statement to Denverite, a Johnston spokesperson said the mayor "does not have plans to fund A-Line improvements."
"Mayor Johnston will continue to partner with RTD to improve services across public transit lines," the statement read.
