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Even though there were two bills that would have done the job, our legislature will adjourn this year without abolishing the Moffat Tunnel Commission.
Never heard of it? It starts in 1861 when the Denver wanted the transcontinental railroad. Its leaders persuaded Jim Bridger, the famous mountain man, and Edward Louis Berthoud, an engineer, to find route over the mountains west of town. Then they could lobby Congress to run the Pacific railroad through Denver on its way west.
Alas, Congress ran the railroad through Wyoming, avoiding steep and snowy Berthoud Pass, and Denver wasn't even on a branch line.
That was solved in 1870, when the civic leaders built the Denver Pacific to Cheyenne on the main line. A few years later, Denver got another connection -- the Denver & Rio Grande, which ran south to Pueblo, then up the Arkansas River and over Marshall Pass to points west.
Either route meant a 100-mile detour to ship anything west from Denver, and the city feared that Pueblo, with its better rail connections, might someday supersede Denver.
In 1902, Denver financier David Moffat began building the Denver, Northwestern & Pacific west from Denver. His line crossed the divide at 11,660-foot Rollins Pass, and the steep grades and deep snow ate up any profits that might have gone to building a tunnel.
Moffat died in 1911. The stockholders reincorporated as the Denver & Salt Lake, and they couldn't raise enough money to build a tunnel under Rollins Pass. Like good American capitalists, they turned to the public till.
It was defeated by a statewide vote. A second effort, in 1920, called for three state-built tunnels under Rollins, Marshall and Cumbres passes. It went down, too.
Thus a special district of counties along the line from Denver to Craig -- the Moffat Tunnel Improvement District.
The district was managed by five elected commissioners -- the Moffat Tunnel Commission. The tunnel opened in 1927.
Over the years, property taxes and rents were collected, and the $44 million total cost of the tunnel was paid off in 1982.
Since the Moffat Tunnel Commission has done its job, do we need it any more?
The primary force for eliminating the commission was the Winter Park Resort Association. The Winter Park ski area, right at the west portal of the Moffat Tunnel, is owned by the city of Denver. In theory, it provides affordable winter recreation to city residents, and it is managed by the Recreation Association.
The Tunnel Commission owns about a dozen acres under the Winter Park base buildings. Ingrid Karlstrom, a Moffat Tunnel Commissioner, told me that the Resort Association pays no rent for that land, under an old lease.
Since the commission is legally obligated to get the
best return on its property, the commission in 1993
declared the old lease void and wanted new negotiations.
Our appraiser told us a fair rental price would be about
$300,000 a year,
Karlstrom said.
Did the resort association respond by negotiating in good faith with its landlord?
No, the resort association found some lackeys in the legislature to introduce Senate Bill 114 to abolish the Moffat Tunnel Commission on terms favorable to the Resort Association.
The Tunnel Commission responded by getting another bill in the hopper, HB 1060, which would have terminated the commission on terms more favorable to the taxpayers in the Moffat Tunnel Improvement District.
Both bills have been postponed indefinitely
in
the legislature, and the Tunnel Commission meets Monday to
find out whether the Winter Park Resort Association will
pay $2 million for the land.
It's worth more, probably at least $3 million,
Karlstrom said, but we'd like to get this
settled.
So that may be settled soon, but what about the tunnel commission? Does Colorado still need it?
It's one of those few governmental agencies formed to do a job that actually did the job. Karlstrom said it would form a good base for a regional transportation authority to address some of the I-70 congestion problems.
But that makes too much sense. Instead, why not sell to the highest bidder? The railroad pays only $1,000 a year, and that's also what the Denver Water Board pays to run thousands of acre-feet of Western Slope water through the adjacent pioneer bore.
Hold a public auction. Think how interesting Colorado life could get if, say, the Union Pacific succeeded in getting its monopoly with help from Roy Romer -- but Montana Rail Link owned the Moffat Tunnel.
Or suppose the Colorado River Water Conservancy District bought the water tunnel, and started charging Denver a prohibitive fee to convey Western Slope water through the tunnel. Or if Vail Associates bought the land under the Winter Park bullwheels.
Sure, it would be simpler to keep the Moffat Tunnel Commission in place. It could even serve a useful purpose in the future. But I kind of like all the complications that could come about with an auction. Colorado has been pretty boring lately, at least compared to Montana.
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