State and local officials Friday settled on a list of 57 highway projects, costing $1 billion, that Colorado voters will consider in November as part of a ballot measure that alters the Taxpayer’s Bill of Rights.
Referendum D, if approved by voters, will allow the state to issue bonds that will help pay for transportation, education and police and fire pensions.
To issue the bonds, Colorado officials need voters to approve a companion measure, Referendum C, that allows the state to keep revenues in excess of spending limits set by TABOR. That revenue will be used to repay bondholders.
An infusion of bond money is needed to fund transportation because other sources of highway funding have dried up, Colorado Department of Transportation executive director Tom Norton told local officials Friday.
Norton acknowledged that a billion dollars for roads is only a small down payment on the state’s highway improvement needs, which total tens of billions of dollars. But, he added, “This is something; let’s make the best of it.”
The nine-county geographical area served by the Denver Regional Council of Governments would get about $504 million of the highway funding if voters back the two ballot measures.
One major project would be reconstruction of the Wadsworth Boulevard/West Sixth Avenue interchange and the widening of Wadsworth between Third and 14th avenues. Its price tag is $58 million.
There also would be $70 million for the first phase of reconstructing the Wadsworth/Boulder Turnpike interchange and $50 million for widening Interstate 25 and adding new I-25 bridges between South Broadway and West Sixth Avenue in central Denver.
To win voter approval statewide, officials are including highway upgrades throughout Colorado, including $50 million for widening Interstate 25 north of the Denver area, $13 million for Interstate 70 improvements in Mesa County and $15 million for widening U.S. 550 north of the New Mexico line in southwestern Colorado.
El Paso County representatives on the panel that developed the list of highway projects said their work was complicated when the Defense Department’s Base Realignment and Closure Commission announced recently that 8,100 more troops will be located at Fort Carson.
When families are added, the additional troops will bring more than 20,000 new residents to the Colorado Springs area, according to the Pikes Peak Area Council of Governments.
The 50 percent increase in Fort Carson’s troop strength is expected to require a major upgrade to a key I-25 interchange that provides access to the military post – a project that could cost $50 million, said El Paso County Commissioner Wayne Williams.
The Pentagon is expected to contribute about $10 million, leaving the state to fund the $40 million balance, he said.
Officials put $82 million in other Colorado Springs I-25 improvements on the Referendum D list that voters will consider this fall.
Williams said he expects state transportation officials will come up with other priority funding for Colorado’s share of the I-25 interchange upgrade near Fort Carson.
Asked if he thinks voters in his region will support referendums C and D, Williams said, “Any tax issue is a tough sell in El Paso County.”
The proposed $1 billion in highway improvements for Referendum D still needs the approval of the Colorado Transportation Commission, whose members will determine the final list Thursday.
Commission members are not expected to make major changes in the list established by CDOT and local officials.
Staff writer Jeffrey Leib can be reached at 303-820-1645 or jleib@denverpost.com.
