Highway tolls, assorted fees and a host of other options are on the table as business leaders and lawmakers get an early start crafting transportation solutions amid uncertain prospects for state and federal funding.
The proposals are far from becoming legislation, but discussions have focused on using transportation projects to create jobs and stimulate the Colorado economy.
With election-year pressure off and business interests heavily involved, lawmakers from both sides of the aisle have committed to finding common ground.
As Gov. Bill Ritter’s blue-ribbon panel meets today, his transportation policy adviser, Carla Perez, said she’s both hopeful and uncertain about what lawmakers can actually accomplish.
“As much as I would like to say with a great deal of enthusiasm that this is the year, I couldn’t have predicted what happened on Wall Street,” Perez said. “The governor is very committed to take it as far as we reasonably can.”
Transportation was largely viewed as the biggest omission of last session, where a last-minute proposal to fix the state’s 126 structurally deficient bridges fell apart.
The panel has recommended $1.5 billion annually in transportation funding to fix hundreds of roads and bridges, but the state is nowhere close to having that kind of money.
Forecasters predict no state transportation money other than the $30 million that may be set aside under Ritter’s budget next year. The Federal Highway Trust Fund announced in September that it was out of cash and Colorado would get just $300 million — about $200 million less than state transportation officials expected, Perez said.
An Oct. 17 poll by Ciruli and Associates showed little political will among the public for four of the proposals lawmakers are likely to consider this year: a sales-tax hike, a gas-tax hike, toll roads and higher auto-registration fees.
This could be a year when lawmakers measure success by how well they’re able to minimize losses, said House Minority Leader Mike May, R-Parker.
“We have to deal with our current budget and reserve as much transportation money as we can,” he said.
May and other lawmakers are discussing tolls on major corridors such as Interstate 70 and Interstate 25, although Republicans, some Democrats and most mountain residents vehemently oppose increased fees or taxes.
Lawmakers also are considering setting up regional transportation districts that would raise money and fix roads locally, creating an authority to adjust gas taxes to cover road-upkeep costs each year and exploring public-private partnerships.
Rep. Joe Rice, D-Littleton, said he hopes the lame-duck Congress or President-elect Barack Obama will push through an economic-stimulus package that focuses on infrastructure projects.
“In some kind of counterintuitive way, the tough economic times may be one of the things that helps us advance the conversation,” Rice said. “Investing in infrastructure creates jobs.”
Jessica Fender: 303-954-1244 or jfender@denverpost.com
