The federal government’s top transportation official announced Wednesday that metro Denver is a finalist for a special funding program designed to reduce traffic congestion.
Transportation Secretary Mary E. Peters said a proposal to add toll lanes to U.S. 36 was one of nine finalists in the running for funding.
“Denver’s proposal is designed to keep the Mile High City free from miles-long traffic jams,” Peters said at a news conference in the parking lot of the Safeway Distribution Center near Interstate 70 and Colorado Boulevard.
Gov. Bill Ritter, who joined Peters on a warehouse tour, vowed to press federal officials to pick the Denver plan.
“We’ll be talking to you every Tuesday morning, every Wednesday morning and every Thursday morning,” Ritter said. “We want to be more than a finalist. We want to land it.”
Peters said the federal government has about $1.1 billion to divvy up among projects that combine tolling, transit, technology and telework options.
Federal officials expect to select five programs in August to receive funding. Peters declined to name the other finalists, but she discussed proposals from Seattle and New York City during the news conference.
The U.S. 36 proposal seeks $234 million in federal funding to assist with several parts of a program that includes adding toll lanes, boosting mass transit and adding high-tech toll-tagging equipment to measure and direct traffic.
The biggest piece of the proposal calls for adding high- occupancy toll lanes – one in each direction – between Interstate 25 and Foothills Parkway in Boulder. The toll price would vary, with the highest fee during peak traffic hours.
The proposal was submitted by the U.S. 36 Mayors and Commissioners Coalition, which includes Boulder, Westminster, Broomfield, Louisville, Superior and Denver.
Officials selected the Safeway site for the announcement because the grocer is a major user of the state’s highways, dispatching trucks from its warehouse to more than 150 stores in Colorado and surrounding states.
