{"id":2442149,"date":"2019-03-26T06:48:00","date_gmt":"2019-03-26T12:48:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.aspentimes.com\/news\/policymakers-business-interests-battle-over-i-70-fixes\/"},"modified":"2019-03-26T06:48:00","modified_gmt":"2019-03-26T12:48:00","slug":"policymakers-business-interests-battle-over-i-70-fixes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/local-news\/policymakers-business-interests-battle-over-i-70-fixes\/","title":{"rendered":"Policymakers, business interests battle over I-70 fixes"},"content":{"rendered":"
The riddle of how to fund and make serious improvements to the Interstate 70 corridor continues to be an issue for policy makers and private interests in Colorado.<\/strong>
Daily file photo<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

When transportation lobbyist Sandra Hagen Solin was a girl growing up in Vail, she remembers driving home with her family after a weekend in the city and seeing bump-to-bumper traffic crawling back down to Denver on Interstate 70. She thought there\u2019d been a disaster and people were fleeing the mountains.<\/p>\n

Turns out there was no immediate catastrophe \u2014 just the slow-motion strangulation of Colorado\u2019s key east-west corridor between its major metropolitan areas along the Front Range and the mountain resort playgrounds that make the state a world-famous tourist destination. All these years later, the actual disaster of a booming population and dwindling highway budget continues.<\/p>\n

According to the Colorado Department of Transportation, Colorado\u2019s population has increased 53 percent since 1990 but the lane miles on the state\u2019s highway system have increased just 2 percent due to crippling budget constraints. CDOT has a $9 billion backlog of improvements.<\/p>\n

A Denver Metro Chamber of Commerce study found that I-70 congestion costs $839 million in 2005 dollars every year in lost time, productivity, tourism and local and state tax revenue. About 70 percent of CDOT\u2019s annual $1.4 billion transportation budget goes to maintenance, and Colorado\u2019s 22-cent gas tax \u2014 the 12th lowest in the nation \u2014 has not been increased since 1991.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have long been promoting Colorado on its quality of life, and we will quickly lose that argument if we don\u2019t invest in our ability to move, to get to the places we love and get to the places that provide us income,\u201d said Solin, spokeswoman for Fix Colorado Roads. \u201cAnd if we don\u2019t address something soon, it gets increasingly difficult and just gets worse and worse.\u201d<\/p>\n

Latest legislation to fund roads<\/p>\n

Colorado voters in November decisively turned down both a sales tax increase (Proposition 110) that would have funded a $6 billion CDOT bond issue and Proposition 109 that would have authorized a $3.5 billion bond sale. Now state lawmakers have introduced legislation to let Colorado voters once again have a crack at carving out some extra funding for roads.<\/p>\n

HB 1257 refers a measure to the November 2019 ballot asking voters to let the state retain and spend state revenue in excess of the Taxpayer Bill of Rights (TABOR) cap, the constitutional limitation on state spending. HB 1258, contingent on voters approving HB 1257, would split that revenue up one third each on public schools, higher education, and roads, bridges and transit.<\/p>\n

Just how much money would wind up being spent on I-70 and other road projects is subject to debate, but most experts agree that even if the Legislature approves the measures for the ballot and voters then give the state the OK to \u201cde-Bruce\u201d (TABOR was spearheaded by anti-tax crusader Douglas Bruce), new revenue will still be needed to fix the state\u2019s failing roads.<\/p>\n

The Joint Budget Committee last week completed negotiations on the budget and approved the \u201cLong Bill\u201d package for introduction to the state Senate this week. It contains a proposed $230 million in general fund spending on transportation, but business interests would like to see a lot more for roads.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s an economic development issue,\u201d said Colorado Ski Country USA President and CEO Melanie Mills. \u201cWe are hustling to bring all these great companies and employers to live in our state because we have this great quality of life for their employees, but, gee, hop in your car on Friday evening after work and get ready to sit. It\u2019s a problem.\u201d<\/p>\n

In search of new money<\/p>\n

Mills, whose lobbying group represents the majority of the state\u2019s ski areas, said the state must increase overall spending and find new revenue streams. Neighboring Utah has 2.4 million fewer residents but nearly the same annual transportation budget, and it collects nearly 30 cents a gallon in gas taxes while also tapping into state sales tax revenue to fund transportation.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re not just saying that the general fund is the only place that we should be identifying money for our transportation needs. We think we need new money, too,\u201d Mills said. \u201cBut it\u2019s really inexcusable to us that it seems to be such a low priority for the Legislature.\u201d<\/p>\n

State Sen. Bob Rankin, a Carbondale Republican, thinks a gas-tax increase is what\u2019s needed as a long-term funding solution, even though it continues to poll poorly in tax-adverse Colorado. In the meantime, the Joint Budget Committee member is also dismayed there has not been more emphasis on transportation funding this session.<\/p>\n

\u201cEverybody has their priority system, and I guess campaign promises come first, and kindergarten is $220 million,\u201d Rankin said before Democratic Gov. Jared Polis settled on $185 million from the JBC for that policy priority. \u201cThat could make a difference for transportation, but that\u2019s not where we\u2019re being asked to do this year.\u201d<\/p>\n

Solin, who works for the Northern Colorado Legislative Alliance \u2014 the public policy arm of the Fort Collins, Loveland and Greeley chambers of commerce \u2014 is focused on expanding Interstate 25 north of Denver. But she also works closely with the Vail Valley Partnership on I-70. Her groups sees a gas-tax increase with an index as the most viable option with voters.<\/p>\n

Other possible solutions<\/p>\n

Mills\u2019 organization also would be open to exploring a gas tax increase on the ballot, but she said that the costly and arduous 17-year process that led to 2011\u2019s I-70 Record of Decision identified some sort of advanced guideway mass transit system as a preferred alternative for the corridor and recommended that a funding source should be secured by 2020.<\/p>\n

Because that hasn\u2019t happened, she thinks it\u2019s time to start talking about reversible bus lanes on peak weekend skier traffic days and possibly restricting truck traffic. Greg Fulton, president of the Colorado Motor Carriers Association trucking lobby, said less than 2 percent of the traffic during peak skier periods is commercial trucking and that his industry needs to deliver goods.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat people tend to forget about I-70 and what we have to always remind folks is it\u2019s an interstate corridor,\u201d Fulton said. \u201cIt serves so much more (than skiers) and it\u2019s not like a local road. It is an interstate, and it is critical to the economic welfare of the state, and even the country in many ways.\u201d<\/p>\n

Fulton\u2019s lobbying group also strongly supports raising the gas tax.<\/p>\n

CDOT seeks real improvements<\/p>\n

CDOT, meanwhile, has a wish list of big-ticket projects it would like to start working on along I-70, including another climbing lane on the west side of Vail Pass. Also on the list, a westbound toll lane from Idaho Springs nearly to the Eisenhower Tunnel, expanding the popular Bustang bus service, fixing the Silverthorne interchange, and a $500 million project to replace the aging bridge at the bottom of Floyd Hill where Kermit\u2019s used to be, including tunneling under and straightening the interstate where it\u2019s too curvy for such steep descents and ascents.<\/p>\n

But such projects will have to wait until long-term funding sources are secured. A spokeswoman would not weigh in on what type of funding the state should pursue.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s fair to say that additional funds for transportation would be put to very productive use and to real projects that would make a difference in the corridor,\u201d CDOT spokeswoman Amy Ford said.<\/p>\n

via:: The Aspen Times<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The riddle of how to fund and make serious improvements to the Interstate 70 corridor continues to be an issue for policy makers and private interests in Colorado.Daily file photo When transportation lobbyist Sandra Hagen Solin was a girl growing up in Vail, she remembers driving home with her family after a weekend in the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[49],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-2442149","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-local-news"},"acf":[],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-06-15 19:44:59","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"distributor_meta":false,"distributor_terms":false,"distributor_media":false,"distributor_original_site_name":"KSPN The Valley's Quality Rock","distributor_original_site_url":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn","push-errors":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2442149","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2442149"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2442149\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2442149"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2442149"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2442149"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}