Transportation officials have come up with a tentative list of new highway projects for Colorado – valued at $1 billion – for voters to consider on a ballot measure in November.
The projects, however, could change before they are finalized this summer for presentation to voters.
“I’m not sure we can make everybody happy, but hopefully we can make everybody satisfied,” said Jennifer Finch of the Colorado Department of Transportation.
CDOT officials on Friday identified about 55 highway and transit projects that could appear in a pamphlet the state will send to voters explaining a ballot measure on transportation bonding.
Some sources of state funding for transportation dried up in recent years, partly because of spending restrictions imposed by the Taxpayer’s Bill of Rights, known as TABOR.
The recent legislative session passed a measure that loosened TABOR’s grip on the budget, allowing the state to sell up to $1.2 billion in bonds to cover four years of transportation improvements.
To pay back the bonds, the measure allows the state to retain more revenue than originally allowed under TABOR.
Inflation will eat away at the amount of bond proceeds available for highway construction, leaving a little more than $1 billion in total spending.
If voters approve the bonds, metro Denver will get projects valued at about $500 million over four years, including as much as $59 million for a new interchange and related highway widening at Wads worth Boulevard and West Sixth Avenue, and up to $45 million for a new interchange at C-470 and South Santa Fe Drive.
Bond proceeds also would allow CDOT to finally complete the multi- phase reconstruction of the junction of U.S. 36, Interstate 25, I-270 and I-76. The bond measure would likely pay for the final $15 million in construction at that location.
Local officials from throughout Colorado who advise CDOT on transportation priorities generally endorsed the list of statewide projects that voters may consider this fall.
Yet not all were pleased with it.
The list may not include enough money for highway improvements in El Paso County to persuade county residents to support the ballot measure, some officials said.
Colorado Springs and other cities in El Paso County account for about 14 percent of the state’s population, yet CDOT’s list includes only one project for the county, accounting for 8.7 percent of the bond proceeds, said Craig Casper, transportation director for the Pikes Peak Area Council of Governments. That one project includes $91 million of improvements to I-25 in El Paso County.
The council of governments doesn’t expect to get 14 percent of state transportation funding to match population share, but officials do expect to get about 9.5 percent to 10 percent as a fair share, Casper said.
Staff writer Jeffrey Leib can be reached at 303-820-1645 or jleib@denverpost.com.
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The tentative choices
In November, Coloradans will vote on a measure that could generate $1 billion for transportation improvements throughout the state. If voters approve the measure, the sale of bonds will back more than 50 high-priority construction projects.
A tentative list of projects includes:
$37 million for reconstruction of the I-70/Quebec Street interchange in metro Denver
Nearly $60 million for I-25 improvements in central Denver
$31 million for I-225 improvements from Parker Road to I-70
$40 million for widening I-25 in Douglas County
$20 million for widening Colorado 9 from Frisco to Breckenridge
$50 million for widening a stretch of I-25 between Denver and Fort Collins
Source: Colorado Department of Transportation
