It sounds like a pipe dream. We can have safer roads and bridges, reduced traffic congestion, cleaner drinking water and an end to overcrowded schools – all while creating 343,000 jobs right here in Colorado.
It’s no pipe dream – in fact, it is closer to being a reality than it’s ever been. The launch of “Build Colorado 2010” just this month, with the backing of a broad coalition of elected officials, businesses, community groups and working people aims to make it real. The key: turning U.S. Senators, including Colorado’s Mark Udall and Michael Bennet, into champions for building America.
You may have seen the first steps of this effort already – billboards near structurally deficient bridges, including at West Sixth Avenue and Bryant Street and I-70 at Kipling – will inform motorists of the dire conditions of bridges in Colorado. That’s just the conversation starter about the dire state of the basics in the state and across America.
“Nearly a third of the state’s major roads are in poor or mediocre condition, according to the American Society of Civil Engineers, and more than 30 percent of Colorado’s major urban highways are congested.
“The Federal Highway Administration has ranked 598 bridges in Colorado as structurally deficient.
“Denver’s aging water supply malfunctions with increasing frequency, with 328 water main breaks in 2008, up from 306 in 2007 and 256 in 2006. More than 150,000 people state-wide drink from public water supplies that violate public health standards.
“Nearly 90 percent of Colorado’s school districts say at least one school fails to meet health and safety standards.
These aren’t new problems and delays and neglect are saddling taxpayers with a ballooning bill. Nationally, the investment required to adequately repair, modernize and expand our most vital systems has risen 69 percent since 2001. Fiscal responsibility demands that we care for the basics of our state and country now.
There was a time when America’s transportation systems, water resources and school facilities made us the envy of the world. But Colorado is falling behind and risks losing its ability to compete, just as our nation is risking its ability to keep up with the global economy.
It’s a no-brainer. The economic downturn has cost Colorado 57,500 construction jobs – we can get those jobs back, and create thousands more, by addressing our basic needs. And we can leave behind real assets for taxpayers and a positive legacy for future generations, while making our nation more competitive.
Fiscally responsible solutions have been put forward on a regular basis – with crucial first step proposals being passage of a new Surface Transportation Bill, the Water Quality Investment Act and the Water Resources Development Act. The foundation of our transportation system and the single largest piece of jobs-creation legislation, the Surface Transportation Bill, has been mired down in repeated delays, as have water resources bills.
In the coming weeks, Coloradans will hear radio ads and see online ads about the condition of the state’s basics. Across the state, members of LIUNA, the Sierra Club and allied groups will carry the message to their elected officials that it takes more than just agreeing the basics of the state and our country need attention. They must become true champions for taking care of Colorado and America.
Kirk Cunningham is conservation co-chair of the Rocky Mountain Chapter of the Sierra Club. Larry Gray is business manager of the Rocky Mountain District Council of LIUNA, the Laborers’ International Union of North America. EDITOR’S NOTE: This is an online-only column and has not been edited.
