Major railroads such as Santa Fe, Southern Pacific-Burlington
Northern and Union pacific have major operations in Denver as Colorado is a
major rail corridor between the east and the west coasts. Denver is
also home to Burlington Northern's major intermodal hub center.
In response
to impending congestion and rising emissions levels, the Regional Transportation
District was established in 1973. RTD provides public transportation
to the entire metro area, including Boulder, Golden, Aurora, and Highlands
Ranch. A full thirteen percent of all trips to downtown Denver are
made on clean and comfortable buses, aptly labeled "The Ride". Once
downtown, the highly successful 16th Street Mall Shuttle, entering its second
decade of operation, provides free and continuous transportation along an
auto-free pedestrian mall, which forms the hub for busses departing to suburban
destinations.
The Metro Area Connection (MAC) became operational in
1995. It is a light rail system that runs through the downtown area
to various Denver suburbs. The original MAC route is the spine of a
much more extensive light rail system that is in the process of being
built. Denver owns enough rail lines and sufficient rights of way
that a infrastructure with access to every sector of the metro region is already
in place. In 2004, due to the success of the original MAC, voters of
the Denver Metro area approved expanding MAC to eight additional suburbs and
cities along the Front Range. The new plan will also establish a rail
link from downtown to the new airport.