61st & Peña Station (RTD)

61st & Peña
RTD commuter rail station
View of station from train during opening weekend.
Location	6045 N. Richfield Street Denver, Colorado
Coordinates	39°46′24.9″N 104°47′02.6″W / 39.773583°N 104.784056°WCoordinates: 39°46′24.9″N 104°47′02.6″W / 39.773583°N 104.784056°W
Owned by	Regional Transportation District
Line(s)	A Line
Platforms	2 side platforms
Tracks	2
Construction
Structure type	At-grade
Parking	800 parking spaces
Disabled access	Yes
History
Opened	April 22, 2016
Services
Preceding station   RTD   Following station 40th & Airport Blvd / Gateway Park toward Union Station A Line Denver Airport Terminus

61st & Peña is a Regional Transportation District (RTD) commuter rail station on the A Line in Denver, Colorado. The station, accessible from Tower Road is located along Peña Boulevard, the sixth eastbound station from Union Station in Downtown Denver and first westbound from Denver International Airport. It is about twenty-eight minutes from Union Station and nine minutes from Denver Airport. 61st Avenue from Tower Road is currently still under construction and an unpaved construction road north of 61st provides access from Tower Road to the station.

61st & Peña station has a 800-stall private park-and-ride lot not managed by RTD; it is not served by TheRide bus routes, unlike other A Line stations.^[1]

The station, originally named "Peña Boulevard Station", was not originally in the plans for the A Line and was added in 2015 after the signing of a public-private partnership to fund construction. The area surrounding the station will be developed into a mixed-use, transit-oriented development called “Peña Station,”^[2] with offices and housing, part of a proposed airport city surrounding Denver International Airport.^[3][4] Nearby developments are planned to include up to 2,500 residential units, 1,500 hotel rooms, 500,000 square feet (46,000 m²) of retail space, and 1 to 1.5 million square feet (93,000 to 139,000 m²) of offices.^[5]

61st & Peña station opened on April 22, 2016, along with the rest of the A Line.^[6]

References

1. "University of Colorado A Line Stations & Parking". RTD. Retrieved April 23, 2016.
2. "RTD Will Add New Rail Station to East Rail Line to Serve Key Development". ENR. Retrieved 4 May 2016.
3. Proctor, Cathy (July 16, 2015). "RTD train station near DIA a go, officials say". Denver Business Journal. Retrieved April 23, 2016.
4. Svaldi, Aldo; Keeney, Laura (December 18, 2014). "Panasonic Enterprise Solutions a "first win" for Denver aerotropolis". The Denver Post. Retrieved April 23, 2016.
5. Rusch, Emilie (April 24, 2016). "Transit-oriented development chugging down the A-train tracks". The Denver Post. Retrieved April 29, 2016.
6. Whaley, Monte; Aguilar, John (April 22, 2016). "A-train to Denver airport opens to public, hundreds wait to ride". The Denver Post. Retrieved April 23, 2016.