Referendum D is literally where the rubber meets the road for Colorado’s hard-pressed motorists.
A yes vote will allow state government to get started on 55 badly needed highway construction and maintenance projects across the state.
The sad fact is congestion on Colorado roadways is bad and getting worse. A new report issued this week estimates that inadequate roads cost each Denver driver $1,577 a year because of traffic accidents, lost time and fuel, and increased wear and tear on vehicles. For drivers in the Colorado Springs area, the annual tab for lousy roads is $1,103.
The study by the Washington-based transportation research group TRIP estimates that Coloradans pay $3.3 billion a year in unnecessary costs simply because the highway network is in such bad shape.
That annual figure is almost as much as the total cost over five years of Referendums C and D, currently estimated at $3.6 billion.
Referendum C earmarks money for “education, health care, roads, bridges and other strategic transportation projects and retirement plans for firefighters and police officers.” If approved, C will start putting extra dollars into transportation needs, including rapid transit, even if Referendum D fails.
But to really help get Colorado moving again, voters should approve C and D both.
Referendum C’s five-year “time-out” from TABOR budget restrictions would end in 2010, but D’s passage would add an additional $100 million to the state revenue ceiling in 2011. That money would pay off $1.2 billion in bonds for the 55 specific highway projects throughout Colorado that are designed to keep up with the state’s burgeoning growth.
Referendum D also would authorize the state to borrow up to $372 million to buttress local pension plans for police officers and firefighters and to repair, maintain and replace some K-12 public school buildings, as well as university, college and community college facilities. Most of the pension and school provisions are existing obligations that the state must pay regardless of the outcome of the Nov. 1 election. Referendum D will, however, save taxpayers money because construction costs are rising much faster than the interest on the school bonds.
The 55 highway projects are different. Unless Referendums C and D both pass, they will go into limbo. That’s because Colorado’s 22-cent per gallon motor fuel tax has lost half of its purchasing power to inflation since it was last increased in 1991. Recognizing that fact, the state legislature began channeling some general revenues into transportation in 1997, but that extra funding was wiped out by the 2001-2002 recession and won’t return unless Referendum C is passed.
As a result, this year’s state transportation budget is $191 million below the 2002 level of $488 million. Since 40 percent of that is shared with cities and counties to help maintain their own road networks, what’s left to the state is barely adequate to maintain our existing highways and bridges.
Any hopes for improving our road network depend squarely on passing Referendums C and D. Is $100 million a year too much? Or should we go on letting our existing jammed and dangerous highways cost us $3.3 billion a year in unnecessary costs and immeasurable hassles? If the referendums pass, you’ll forego some modest tax rebates. If they fail, you’ll keep paying the costs of bad roads.
Vote yes on C and D to get Colorado moving again.
