DENVER — Plans to develop a transportation hub at Front Range Airport in Adams County will have a ripple effect on land use throughout the metro area, the Rocky Mountain News reports.
If the Union Pacific Railroad moves part of its operation to the airport, Denver will gain large tracts of former rail yards that are ripe for urban development.
Just how much land would be freed up is still unclear, said Michael Paras, UP’s Denver superintendent. He described the railroad’s total Denver land holdings as “pretty vast,” including whole streets.
Denver planner Ellen Ittelson said the city doesn’t like to lose employers. But the railroad land “certainly could be more efficiently used,” she said.
Ittelson points to one piece in the old industrial area of Walnut Street that could be developed.
The site is already slated for a stop on an eventual rail line between Union Station and Denver International Airport.