RTD’s Board of Directors on Tuesday night asked staff to shorten the agency’s mid-range budget planning cycle to two years, reflecting the havoc the pandemic and its economic fallout have wreaked on the traditional six-year planning model.

RTD will open its newest rail service, the N Line to Thornton, on Monday, Sept. 21. Due to limitations related to COVID-19, the grand-opening ceremony will be livestreamed to the public at 10 a.m. on the N Line webpage.

RTD is facing some difficult, unprecedented budget decisions for 2021 that will change the face of the largest transit agency in the Rocky Mountains.

Light rail service on the RTD’s H and L lines will be affected for two weeks beginning at 3:30 a.m. tomorrow through Wednesday, Sept. 23, due to track maintenance work.

To combat significant financial shortfalls in 2021 and the coming years as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, RTD is planning for reductions in its budget and staffing levels.