The city of Thornton has raised last-minute complaints that a massive amount of transportation funding scheduled to go before the voters for approval in November grossly shortchanges the north metro area.
Today, the Colorado Transportation Commission will vote to approve the slate of projects that will be attached to Referendum D, which goes before voters in November. The plan provides $1 billion to 57 transportation projects around the state.
The metro area will get about $504 million out of that. But Thornton has complained that Adams County, which has roughly 15 percent of the metro area’s population, will get only about 6 percent of the funding.
“And given the large number of Adams County voters, that displeasure could kill an otherwise valid ballot issue – for everyone,” Thornton Mayor Noel Busck wrote Wednesday in a letter to the commission.
Of the money Adams County will receive, $18 million will go toward improving 104th Avenue – with the requirement that local jurisdictions come up with the extra $57 million for improvements and then take over maintenance of the road, Busck wrote.
Another $14.7 million will go toward the final phase of the Interstates 76 and 270 interchange, a project that was supposed to be funded through a 1998 bond issue, Busck wrote.
Staff writer John Ingold can be reached at 720-929-0898 or jingold@denverpost.com.
