Express Your Money Down the Drain
28th July 2026
I thought that spending $4.7 billion on a passenger train from Fort Collins to Pueblo was a crazy idea. Yet that sounds positively cheap compared to a new proposal for a train from Denver’s airport to Eagle, Vail and other Colorado ski areas, which is estimated to cost $33 billion. As usual, this humongous amount of money is justified based on the claim that it will relieve traffic congestion.
The Denver West Express was first unveiled in an article in the Colorado Gazette by Bob Loevy. Loevy is a retired professor at Colorado College, so you know he has the expertise to offer such a proposal.
Of course, he was a professor of political science, not engineering, transportation, or economics. But that’s okay because, he claims, the project “is supported by a group of professionals with engineering, architectural and business training.” The only one Loevy names is Jay Branch, who is presumably the Jay Branch who has a masters degree in management and runs a management consulting firm — still a long way from engineering or economics.
DWE would not be a high-speed rail line. The trains would go as fast as 90 miles per hour “in places,” says Loevy, but no train is going to climb the Rockies at 90 mph. The proposal calls for a two long tunnels in the mountains, one 5.0 miles and the other 6.5, but otherwise the route will go around lots of curves that will slow down trains even if they are on the level. Moreover, the route from DIA to Eagle would be 17 miles (more than 10 percent) longer than I-70, making it even harder for the train to compete with driving.
July 28th, 2026 at 13:31
Once again, what is the Left’s fascination with trains? The Houston-Dallas route gets stirred up every year or two, despite the fact that it would be quicker to drive or to fly Southwest. The cost is always in the hundreds of millions or even billions, so the level of graft has to be incredible.
They love trains, trannies, and Talarico.