However, the front range of the state, extending from Cheyenne, Wyoming in the north to Pueblo in the south (or even to Santa Fe, New Mexico), is where all of the people live, and it has--depending on how you calculate it--something like 300 per sq. km. on average. So all of the rail proposals here end up with a front range segment, and the anti-rail arguments based on population density are diversionary.

The question is, what is the right way to calculate population density for a 1.5 dimensional system like this? One way would be to only count the counties it passes through, based on the argument that the counties are going to be affected most by rail-related taxes. Or you could say that the width of impact of a railroad is three miles in either direction. Or maybe it's a 10 mile radius around each station.

Is there a standard way to do this?