by Jeanie Rossillon, Transportation & Engineering Assistant Director
comments open from April 1 until April 20

Reevaluating bus service routes is a part of the on-going efforts associated with the West Corridor and Gold Line rail transit. RTD has given us the opportunity to provide input to better serve residents and the users of those buses before the RTD transportation planners put their final stamp on new bus routes.

While transit service will be greatly improved in these corridors, which are now being served by a number of bus routes, we need to consider maximum efficiency of public transit systems as part of this effort. Typically, the bus routes would be reconfigured as feeder routes for the light rail stations, thereby improving service to other areas. We have begun to look at routes potentially affected by future changes, but we need your input.

The West Corridor will be a 12.1-mile light rail transit line between Denver Union Station, in Downtown Denver, and the Jefferson County Government Center in Golden. The line will serve Denver, Lakewood, the Denver Federal Center, Golden and Jefferson County. Construction is underway and the line will go into service in about three years.

The Gold Line is an 11.2-mile electric commuter rail corridor that will run from Denver Union Station to Wheat Ridge, passing through northwest Denver, Adams County and Arvada along the way. The Gold Line is currently forecast to go into service in about six years.

As part of an improved strategic focus, the Jefferson County Transportation Action and Advocacy Group (JEFFTAAG) wants its members to provide input on issues like this one. We are expecting a discussion on future route changes as they may relate to the new transit service at the next JEFFTAAG meeting, scheduled for Wednesday, April 14. In advance of our upcoming meeting, we are asking our citizens to provide input to us so we can have a thorough and insightful discussion.

Possible changes could be made to the following routes and others:
Gold Line
Route 58x Oak via Ward Express
Route 44L West 44th Avenue Limited
Route 55x Olde Town Arvada Express

West Corridor
Route 9 West 10th Avenue
Route 16 West Colfax
Route AF Cold Spring/Downtown/DIA
Route 17 Jeffco
Route 93x Green Mountain Express

Please comment on this blog post or send input directly to the JEFFTAAG group at jrose@jeffco.us. For more information on JEFFTAAG, see our Web page.

by Public Information
comments open from April 1 until April 20

Communities nationwide, including Jefferson County, are urging their residents to take 10 minutes on Thursday, April 1 — Census Day — to fill out and mail back their 2010 Census forms if they haven't already done so. As the official reference date for the once-a-decade civic ceremony, Census Day will serve as the point-in-time benchmark for the nation’s population count for the next 10 years.

The U.S. Census Bureau mailed or hand-delivered about 134 million 2010 Census questionnaires to households in March. To date, just over half of those households have mailed back their census forms — an important milestone.

Jefferson County is one of the top counties in Colorado for Census returns so far. As of March 31, 60 percent of Jeffco residents had returned their forms. That’s still a long way from the 77 percent who returned them in 2000 and our goal for 2010 of 82 percent.

Census data is used to apportion seats in the U.S. House of Representatives and to distribute more than $400 billion in federal funds annually. Answers are protected by law and cannot be shared with anyone. The Census Bureau takes extreme measures to protect the identity of individuals and businesses. By law, the Census Bureau cannot share respondents' individually identifiable answers with anyone, including tribal housing authorities, other federal agencies and law enforcement entities.

Residents still have time to fill out and mail back their 10-question census forms, saving the government about $57 for each household that does not have to be visited by an enumerator. The U.S. Constitution requires an enumeration of every person living in the U.S. Every household that fails to send back its census form by mail must be visited by a census taker starting in May — at significant taxpayer cost. If every household across the nation mailed back its completed form, taxpayers could reduce the cost of administering the census by about $1.5 billion.

For more information, visit the Jefferson County Census Web site at www.jeffco.us/2010census.htm.