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r~--\.~ 1))S<;S ~\=b~ 20A . The Denver Post I John Eppersc Heavy~equipment crews clear streets in Black Hawk for the secon consecutive day after heavy rains pounded the area again Friday Fix for flooding tied to light rail "~.~~":!,,..._- The Denver Post I Andy Cross Residents of Buffalo Creek stand next to ty Road 126 on Friday. The road flooded a washed-out area along Jefferson Coun- in several spots in the area. Flooding likely to recur 1-25 underpass fIx tied to light rail, officials say waist-deep at the underpass and stranded motorists had to be rescued by raft. The highway was shut down for two hours starting at 5 p.m., causing a rush-hour melt- down. Colorado Department of Transportation officials say there's IiHle they can do but wait for. J'ail and other im- The storm drain improvemen are not completely contingent ( the fail funding, he said. Once stu ies of a raUline are complete, tl state might decide to move fo ward with improvements, such: new bridges and undergrour drainage before it has all rail fun' lined up, The department has started two-year, $20 million study of e environmental effects of the ligt rail line and some associated big way improvements. But it's so preHminary that sta hydraulic engineers Friday dim even know what the long-ter drainage solutions might be. Carter-Burgess, a state transpc tation consultant, will be comir up with solutions, engineers sai The lead Carter-Burgess consulta referred questions back to state c ficials, Whatever the drainage solutic it has to wait until decisions a made about the best way to pr ceed with raU and highway ir: provements, said senior hydraut engineer Gary Johnson. The study will decide the be route for rail, the optimal bighw.. improvements and other issu that will surely shape drainage Q cisions, he said. "It's like a big jigsaw puzzle Johnson said. RAIN from Page 1 A pie of Denver. They're saying, 'I know you've got a problem with your basement flooding. But until we build a new porch, we won't be able to help you,' Our road system needs attention now, now, under. line now," , The rail line will take years of study and plenty of wrangling in Congress for money, Gov. Roy Romer has set aside $80 million 7:- 18 percent of the project's cost. The rest is not fund- ed. , Even the $80 million could be chipped away, as one leading gu- bernatorial candidate - Treasurer Bill Owens - thinks that's too much of the state's limited transit funds to go to one project. "I'm very concerned about spending it allan one line in one city," Owens said. o About $10 million of the $445 million rail project would go to storm drain improvements, Shorter-term drain improve- ments would be irresponsible, state officials say, given that they might not be compatible with the final product. "1 doubt that we could justify that," said John Unbewust , deputy chief engineer for the transporta- tion department. provements to the whole 1.25 corridor, from Sixth Avenue in Denver to Lincoln Avenue in Douglas County. But critics of the light-rail project said that attitude is outrageous. "It's incredibly irresponsi- ble," said Jon Caldara, chairman of the Regional Transportation District, "They want to put a specula- tive project before simple maintenance. It's insulting to the intelligence of the peo- Please see RAI!'I on 20A By Ricky Young verPostTransportationWriter loading on Interstate 25 Logan Street is likely to be a problem during big rainstorms until a $445 mil- lion light-rail line gets built starting in 2002, officials said Friday. The underpass is at a low point of the highway, and its 40-year-old storm drain sys- tem has been overwhelmed by big storms twice in the past two weeks. Thursc'I.Y's storm was par- ticularly bad, as water rose 1"1""..-.... -~ -~ ~-,' .