Colorado: The Highest State, Second Edition

20. Today Is Going to Be Long, Long Ago

293 Colorado has been one of the fastest-growing states in the nation. All this growth has caused some problems. Highways are crowded with cars, especially during rush hour when many commuters are going to or coming home from work. Traffic also stacks up on Sundays, when people return from weekends in the mountains. Traffic sometimes slows cars down or even stops them. How often have you been stuck in a traffic jam? With this growing population, Colorado’s map has changed. In 2001 the state gained a new county, Broomfield. This sixty-fourth county was created because of large population growth in the area between Denver and Boulder. Many other cities around the state have also become much bigger. The Mile high CiTy Denver, Colorado’s capital, keeps on growing. Between 1990 and 2010, the metro Denver area gained more than a million people and is now a metropolitan area of almost 3 million. The Mile High City is the largest city in the Rocky Mountain region and the twenty-sixth–largest city in the United States. The Denver metropolitan area consists of Adams, Arapahoe, Boulder, Broomfield, Denver, Douglas, and Jefferson Counties. The core City and County of Denver boomed as many people moved back into the city. Between 2000 and 2010, the Mile High City was the Today is going To Be long, long ago 20 294 T o d a y i s g o i n g T o B e l o n g , l o n g a g o fourth–fastest-growing city in the United States. Many people want to live downtown where they can walk or bicycle to work, sports venues, stores, and entertainment. Denver’s opera house, music hall, and theaters also attract many people, as do the newly expanded downtown library, Denver Art Museum, and Colorado History Museum. Colorado celebrated the 2000 millennium with this fireworks display on New Year’s Eve at downtown Denver’s Daniels and Fisher Tower. Photo by Diane huntress. T o d a y i s g o i n g T o B e l o n g , l o n g a g o 295 ReTuRn of The sTReeTCaR To help people get around metro Denver, the Regional Transportation District (RTD) has built a light rail system. These railcars are powered by electricity and zip around the metro area at high speeds. Colorado once had a huge rail network, with large cars that could hold many passengers. Service was stopped on this vast railroad and streetcar network because it was considered outdated as people switched to automobiles. RTD is now rebuilding this fast, clean, fun way to get around. Streetcars, which had been abandoned in Denver in the 1950s, returned in 1994 with the opening of light rail passenger service. The first rail link connected the Auraria Higher Education Center with downtown and the historic Five Points neighborhood in northeast Denver. A southeast line runs to Centennial and on to Park Meadows Mall in Douglas County, while the southwest line serves Englewood, Littleton, and Highlands Ranch. RTD hopes to complete the Denver rail network by 2020. Routes will run from downtown The new History Colorado Center opened at 1200 Broadway in 2012. It is a treasure chest of artifacts, photos, resources, and exhibits. Courtesy, tryba arChiteCts, Denver. The fastest and easiest way to get around metro Denver is aboard these Regional Transportation District light rail streetcars. Photo by thomas J. noel. Route map of Denver’s RTD FASTRACKS projected build-out by 2020. Courtesy, regional transPortation DistriCt, Denver. T o d a y i s g o i n g T o B e l o n g , l o n g a g o 297 Denver west to Arvada, Golden, Lakewood, and Wheat Ridge and north to Westminster, Broomfield, Louisville, Boulder, and Longmont. Another rail line will serve Aurora and Denver International Airport. Rail alternatives to automobiles may enable your children to tour more of Colorado the way your grandparents did—by rail. Light rail takes students to the Auraria Higher Education Center. This campus is shared by the University of Colorado Denver, Metropolitan State College of Denver, and the Community College of Denver and is the largest education complex in the state, with about 50,000 students. Denver’s Colorado Convention Center also attracts visitors from all over the country. Among them were attendees at the 2008 Democratic...