The Transportation, Airports and Public Works task committee voted to forward to the next study session a resolution to approve an intergovernmental agreement (IGA) between the City of Aurora and the Regional Transportation District (RTD) that defines operations and maintenance responsibilities for the East Colfax Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) project.

Carly Campos, deputy director of transportation and mobility in Aurora’s Public Works Department, presented the IGA and a project update. Campos said the corridor runs from Downtown Denver’s Union Station through Denver and into Aurora, ending at Interstate 225, and that the project is a regional partnership among Aurora, the City and County of Denver, RTD and the Colorado Department of Transportation (CDOT). She said the project received a Federal Transit Administration (FTA) grant of $150,000,000 to fund roughly half of the work.

The IGA presented to the committee covers roles and responsibilities for upkeep and technology after construction is complete. "The IGA is between us and RTD," Campos said. "Aurora will maintain the enhanced shelters at Colfax and Havana and RTD maintains basically all other stations and the technology elements since those are integrated with their system." She added the IGA does not move funding between agencies; it defines who does what and leaves detailed implementation steps to staff.

Why it matters: the BRT corridor is a major regional transit investment supported by federal funding and will change how buses operate on Colfax. The IGA is an FTA grant requirement intended to ensure stations, shelters and technology are maintained to FTA standards after installation.

Project details and timeline
- Route and partners: The project includes three distinct segments: a Downtown Denver loop with side-running lanes and existing dedicated lanes, a center-running dedicated-lane segment through Denver with raised center platforms, and a side-running, mixed-traffic segment through Aurora without dedicated lanes at this time.
- Aurora features: Aurora will receive enhanced "signature" stations at Havana and Colfax, ticket vending machines, variable message signs with real-time arrivals, security features (cameras, emergency phones, lighting), and level boarding at selected stations to improve accessibility and on-time performance.
- Funding and previous IGAs: Campos said Aurora entered an IGA with Denver in 2022 for design (about $2,000,000, with the FTA grant covering roughly half) and a 2023 construction IGA for the Aurora section (about $11,000,000, again about half grant-funded). Aurora placed funds in its capital projects fund roughly four years ago for its share of work and contingencies; Campos said the project is currently trending under budget and that art elements have been funded from a non-grant source because art is not reimbursable under the FTA grant.
- Construction schedule: Kramer is the prime contractor; Campos said construction work in Aurora is expected to begin in spring 2026, with Aurora construction lasting about a year, and that full corridor service is expected in 2028 (construction largely complete in 2027 with service opening in 2028).

Operations and maintenance specifics
The IGA describes routine responsibilities including custodial services, graffiti removal, snow and ice removal, shelter repairs and other amenities. Campos said Aurora will maintain the enhanced shelters at Colfax and Havana, while RTD will maintain most other stations and all technology elements integrated with RTD systems (ticket vending machines, variable message signs, real-time systems).

Safety and coordination
Council member Lawson asked about safety and whether the IGA will include explicit security commitments. Lawson said, "I just wanna be a little proactive about, is in terms of safety on these trains... Will there be something with an IGA with RTD regarding safety on these?" Campos said safety is "the top concern," that Aurora and Denver officials meet regularly with RTD about safety, and that Denver is working on a parallel agreement that may include security elements. She added police agencies and regional working groups are coordinating and some technology elements were included so law enforcement can better share information and deploy resources.

Committee action and next steps
Committee members verbally supported forwarding the resolution to the next study session so the IGA can return to a subsequent meeting for formal consideration. The committee did not record a roll-call vote in the transcript; the action recorded in the meeting was to advance the resolution for further review and formal consideration at study session.

Other project notes
Aurora staff are conducting property-owner outreach where easements are needed, developing a business support plan to minimize construction impacts on local businesses, soliciting local artwork for station canopies, and preparing traffic control and phasing plans for Aurora work. Campos noted art for stations is being procured from a city-funded source because the FTA grant does not reimburse art.

The committee’s forwarding of the IGA does not itself adopt the agreement; it advances the matter to staff and to a study-session-level review before a formal council vote.