The Colorado Department of Transportation will buy rights for a little-used rail line south of downtown Denver, allowing it to tear out a section of track and eliminate three freight rail crossings.
The deal is related to, but separate from, the state’s $50 million purchase of Burnham Yard from Union Pacific in 2021.
Officials had hoped the 60-acre parcel could host parts of big transportation projects like the planned Front Range Passenger Rail line. A state study later concluded the property wouldn’t be useful for those after all, so it is now preparing the land for sale.
But before that happens, the state has reached an agreement with Union Pacific for another purchase: The state will pay $19.4 million for the freight track easement that runs from just south of Colfax Avenue, through the eastern edge of Burnham Yard, and down to approximately West 4th Avenue.
Once it owns the easement, CDOT can remove the tracks.
State officials say the deal has many benefits, including making Burnham Yard more accessible and therefore more developable. It also preserves the ability to expand RTD’s rail transit service in the future.
“We think this is a good and fair deal for the state,” CDOT senior advisor John Putnam told the state Transportation Commission in December.
A Union Pacific spokesperson declined to detail how the deal will affect its operations, but said its customers would not be “adversely impacted.” It is clear, however, the deal will allow CDOT to rearrange train traffic in the area.
When Union Pacific’s tracks are removed, three crossings — at West 13th Avenue, Rio Court, and Shoshone Street — can be eliminated and streets could potentially be extended into the yard from the La Alma-Lincoln Park neighborhood.
There won’t be any immediate effect for RTD, which also has lines in the area.
RTD’s light rail crossing at West 13th Avenue will remain. RTD officials had long sought to add a second set of light rail tracks through Burnham Yard, but recently decided they would no longer be necessary because of low ridership and service cuts since the pandemic.
Still, CDOT’s purchase would preserve RTD’s ability to add more tracks should it have a change of heart.
“They're not currently part of this transaction, but in the future, since it will be in public ownership, we would have that ability to work that out with RTD should they need that,” Putnam said.
In a statement, RTD spokeswoman Tina Jaquez said the agency, along with the City and County of Denver and CDOT, “would need to evaluate whether or not to use the old alignment for a future light rail alignment or yard track.”
State transportation officials plan to sell Burnham Yard by the spring of 2026. City officials say they are working on a redevelopment plan for the site.
