The rejection of a plan to relieve congestion on U.S. 36 means commuters will have to wait at least until 2009 before work begins on the road.
“Maybe one could be optimistic and maybe we will have the money available next year, but realistically it will probably be 2009,” Louisville Mayor Charles Siske said Tuesday.
Local officials said they were disappointed but aren’t giving up on getting funding from the U.S. Department of Transportation for the road. “We will just continue working with our congressional delegation and the people at the federal DOT. We won’t go away,” said Westminster Mayor Nancy McNally.
Executives at businesses whose employees are frequently stuck in traffic on the corridor were also hoping the DOT would provide the grant, said Michael Fellows, chief of staff for environmental engineering firm MWH Global in Broomfield. “It doesn’t take much to mess up the road – one accident, one flat tire, one anything just brings the whole system to a halt,” he said.
The federal agency on Monday rejected the request from the U.S. 36 Mayors & Commissioners Coalition for up to $234.5 million to help extend bus and carpool lanes along U.S. 36 to Boulder.
The plan called for work to be completed by 2009.
If any of the winning cities can’t follow through on their plans, the grant money could be made available for U.S. 36, said Siske. But officials aren’t counting on that.
“We need to continue the momentum. We will be knocking on the door of the (U.S.) DOT in the next several months to find out where moneys are available to get started.”
It is likely that similar grants will be available in the future, said Boulder County Commissioner Will Toor.
The grant would have required the Regional Transportation District and Colorado Department of Transportation to come up with about 20 percent of the project’s full cost.
The coalition launched its bid for the federal money even as a $15 million environmental study weighs two possible larger-scale congestion-relief solutions that would cost $2.3 billion or $2 billion, depending on the solution.
A 45-day public comment period on the study will be completed Sept. 17.
Once that is completed, officials will decide how to phase in the plan, said Broomfield Mayor Karen Stuart. “We will have to look seriously at how to cobble together the money that will be needed. It will probably be done in phases and cobbled together from different sources.”
Staff writer Tom McGhee can be reached at 303-954-1671 or tmcghee@denverpost.com.
Federal grant winners
Miami, $62.9 million
Minneapolis, $133.3 million
New York City, $354.5 million
San Francisco, $158.7 million
Seattle, $138.7 million
Source: U.S. Department of Transportation
