Denver RTD's 'R Line' more than half complete

Denver's Regional Transportation District (RTD) announced last week that the I-225 "R Line" light-rail project in Aurora, Colo., is now about 60 percent complete.

The project's contractor Kiewit Infrastructure Co. marked the progress with RTD and Aurora city officials on April 30.

Design work for the entire project is 99 percent complete, and all seven light-rail bridges are complete or nearly finished, RTD officials said in a press release

Catenary poles have been erected to the Mississippi Avenue Bridge, and overhead wire has been installed north of the Iliff Bridge, RTD officials said.

Scheduled to open in 2016, the R Line will run 10.5 miles within Aurora and will connect the existing Nine Mile Station on the Southeast Light Rail Line to a planned Peoria/Smith Station on the East Rail Line, according to the project's website.

The R Line will include eight stations and is expected to provide a 40-minute trip from Denver to Aurora.

The new line is part of RTD's "FasTracks" plan to build 122 miles of rail in the Denver area. More than $5.3 billion has been allocated for FasTracks, which was approved by voters in 2004.