Transportation advocates have to educate the public on the need to raise revenues to improve the state’s tattered infrastructure, Russell George, head of the Colorado Department of Transportation, said Wednesday.
Partisan gridlock doomed a drive to pour up to $1.5 billion a year into transportation improvements in the recent legislative session.
But the attention paid to the issue has made more people aware that Colorado must improve bridges and highways to assure the state stays competitive in a global economy, George said.
“A year ago people would say, ‘I’m not so sure we need to do anything more.’ The first thing you heard was skepticism.
“This year whenever you have a conversation, it is ‘our infrastructure needs help.’ ”
Colorado residents take the road system for granted, George told a group of transportation professionals at the 2008 National Transportation Week Luncheon at the University of Denver.
Over the next year, public officials, including a panel on transportation, will have to raise the public’s awareness of the need for improvements, he said.
Colorado needs $500 million just to keep its roads at the level they are now and ideally should direct $1.5 billion toward troubled bridges and highways, according to a transportation study group.
The state’s Democrats generally want to raise the money through fees or tax increases. Republicans generally want to use money already flowing into state coffers.
The public must be convinced that there is no way around spending money for an adequate transportation system, George said.
“We need to raise the sense of awareness about transportation; it is a teaching and learning effort,” he said.
Telling people that they will have to pay more is difficult at a time when political leaders routinely promise tax cuts, he added.
“The political system says, ‘I will give you more and cut your taxes,’ and this is silliness.”
During the recent session, Democrats and Republicans came together briefly on a compromise proposal, but talks broke down.
George, a Republican who was a member of the state House of Representatives from 1992 to 2000 and served as speaker, said the transportation issue became mired in election-year politics.
“I am totally hopeful that we can get through this,” he said.
Tom McGhee: 303-954-1671 or tmcghee@denverpost.com
