2016: Operations Begin for a Commuter Rail Station in Denver that Features a “Hands On” Tribute to the Local Community

April 22, 2016

Operations began for a rail station built at the intersection of East 40^th Avenue and Colorado Boulevard in Denver. 40^th & Colorado station, which is based in Denver’s Elyria-Swansea neighborhood, was one of eight stations opened on the same date to form the newly established A Line. This commuter rail line is part of the Regional Transportation District (RTD), an agency overseeing public transit services in either all or at least a portion of eight counties in Colorado. The A Line covers 23.5 miles (37.8 kilometers) altogether between Denver International Airport and downtown Denver.

40^th & Colorado station is served by several bus routes. In addition, it has a 200-space park-and-ride lot for motor vehicles. Perhaps the station’s most defining feature, however, is a work of art that was likewise introduced to the public in 2016. This work is an installation that had been commissioned as part of RTD’s Art-n-Transit program, and it was set up at 40^th & Colorado station between the bus bay and eastbound platform there. The installation, collectively titled Hands On, was created by Denver public artist and designer Erik Carlson. It consists of a dozen 10-foot (3.1-meter)-tall zinc-plated hand tools that commemorate the working-class area in which the 40^th & Colorado station is located.

Photo Credit: Jeffrey Beall (https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/User:Jeffrey_Beall) — licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International license at https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/deed.en

For more information on 40^th & Colorado station, please check out https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/40th_%26_Colorado_station