Routt County officials are aiming to put the creation of a regional transportation authority to serve Yampa Valley communities to voters as soon as next fall.
Speaking at a Yampa Valley Sustainability Council meeting last week, Routt County Commissioner Sonja Macys said the group of local officials representing communities in the county is aiming for a November ballot initiative that, if approved, would set the stage for setting up an “operational and functional system the following year.”
“Assuming voters would vote in the affirmative in November 2025, funds would be received in January 2026,” Macys told YVSC.
State law dictates how regional transportation authorities can be formed, and at least two municipalities are required to enter into an agreement to create the entity. Authorities may draw funding from participating municipalities, including levying a sales or property tax.
Voters in municipalities seeking to join a regional transportation authority must approve a ballot question, or ballot questions, asking for approval to join the entity and for permission to direct funding toward it.
Officials representing Steamboat Springs, Routt County, Hayden and Craig, along with Oak Creek and Yampa, have all joined a steering committee around the creation of the regional transportation authority.
If the plans move forward, the municipalities would all contribute some level of funding, but those amounts are yet to be worked out.
Steamboat Ski & Resort Corp., a subsidiary of Alterra Mountain Co., has also played a role in the discussions and said the company would be willing to commit at least $1 million annually to fund the regional transportation authority’s operations.
The resort’s sustainability and community engagement director, Sarah Jones, said in January the resort would “support the idea of a lift-ticket tax” to help fund transportation solutions in the Yampa Valley.
“We believe that we could leverage a lift-ticket tax to support projects identified for the RTA, whether that is additional buses from Craig to Steamboat or a train or other innovative ideas,” Jones said.
The push for the regional transportation authority in the Yampa Valley is happening in parallel to an effort to establish passenger rail service by the end of 2027 on lines Union Pacific currently uses to transport coal from plants in Craig and Hayden.
Macys said at the YVSC meeting that Gov. Jared Polis has asked that the timeline for the effort to establish passenger rail in the Yampa Valley be accelerated.
“As we are developing these two things out on a parallel path, I just want to make sure for everybody that it is clear that they are very complimentary and a lot of what we are doing for the RTA will support the mountain rail project,” Macys said.
The county commissioner also said Union Pacific, which owns the existing rail lines serving the coal industry in Craig and Hayden, has been “actively coming to the table as a participant” with local officials in recent months — a change from past decades where “there wasn’t a lot of traction” with the rail company.
“I’ll be honest with you, between about 2008 and 2014 and beyond, there wasn’t a lot of traction with Union Pacific,” Macys said.
According to Macys, the rail company’s involvement in the future of passenger rail service stems in part from the pending closure of the coal-fired powered plants — Union Pacific’s “cash cow” — and the recognition there would be no replacement industry to support the company’s freight service.
Macys also said a negotiation process led by the state over the Moffatt Tunnel will also play a role. The rail-tunnel, opened in 1928, stretches six miles between the Front Range and near the base area of Winter Park Resort — a major rail link connecting eastern Colorado with the western part of the state.
Union Pacific currently operates the tunnel based on a 99-year lease with the state that is set to expire next year. Macys said negotiations over the future of that lease have brought “Union Pacific to the table in a more meaningful way.”
Steamboat Springs City Council member Michael Buccino said the current lease amounts to Union Pacific paying $12,000 annually and owning responsibilities to maintain the tunnel.
Buccino said John Putnam has been leading the Moffat Tunnel negotiations with Union Pacific on behalf of the state.
Putnam served as general counsel for the U.S. Department of Transportation for President Joe Biden’s administration in 2021, and currently works as a senior advisor for the Colorado Department of Transportation.
“What happened is Union Pacific reached out to the Colorado Department of Transportation and basically stated, ‘Hey, we have this asset which is the rail line to Craig. It’s not making us any money on coal. The coal plants are closing down. We don’t want to turn this into … a rail-trail,’” Buccino said. “Union Pacific recognizes the asset is a lot more valuable, and so they don’t want to stop running trains on it, (they) just want to make it more profitable.”
Trevor Ballantyne is the city government and housing reporter. To reach him, call 970-871-4254 or email him at tballantyne@SteamboatPilot.com.
