According to Curbed, the Denver suburb of Arvada, which less than 10 miles from downtown, has seen a $400 million boost in development since 2006. A link into the Gold Line commuter rail line is getting some of the credit. The boom was already underway before the train arrived as more than 1,100 new apartments, condos, and townhomes have sprouted up within half a mile of the station. Another 250 units are still in the pipeline. “What we don’t want to do is contribute to sprawl, traffic, and pollution,” says Maureen Phair, executive director of the Arvada Urban Renewal Authority. “The best way to avoid that is building density around these stations, and really building a place, so people can ride to work and walk to dinner.”
The new rail line, Ryley says, and the 20-minute ride to downtown Denver, is making it easier for businesses to retain and attract workers, building on the successful development of a walkable commercial district. Like other newly connected communities along the 11-mile, seven-station G line, such as Wheat Ridge, Arvada is becoming more walkable and urban, with denser housing. These developments are changing perceptions of what Arvada can be.
The new G Line, part of a number of recent and planned expansions of Denver’s Regional Transportation District, shows how growing metros in the West and the Sun Belt are betting big on improved suburban transit, including expanding light-rail lines and building new commuter rail services.
It’s a trend that’s taken off over the last 15 years, according to Paul Lewis, vice president of policy and finance at Eno Center for Transportation. The American Public Transportation Association says commuter rail use has been steadily increasing since the late ‘90s, and grew 9.2 percent, or by more than 42 million additional trips, in the last decade alone.
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