RTD is bracing for another increase in the FasTracks program cost to be released next month, based on the new budget for just one of the projects approved Tuesday night.

With the West Corridor light rail's new budget approved for an increase of 11.5 percent by the RTD board, cost figures for the other nine FasTracks corridors and related projects in the $6.1 billion program are being recalculated to account for surging materials prices.

Don't expect it to hold at $6.1 billion.

The increases come at a time when RTD is trying to hold together the financial plan that pays for it all - a plan that's being undercut by sales tax collections coming in short of projections.

The RTD board also approved the start of work under two construction contracts for the West Corridor capped at $338.7 million and $62.6 million.

Even at that higher cost, the deal is buying less - $28 million less, to be precise. Rider and public amenities that had been part of the original project have been slashed, including fewer security cameras and phones, less landscaping, fewer railings and benches, simplified noise walls and a narrower bike path.

Since FasTracks went up from its original price tag of $4.7 billion to $6.1 billion in May 2007, there has been another year of hefty inflation in the construction industry - fueled by hikes in steel, concrete and oil. The Colorado Construction Cost Index, a measure of costs for transportation projects maintained by the Colorado Department of Transportation, increased 6.1 percent last year.