Construction workers prepare to dismantle a bridge crossing Clear Creek in 2013, part of an Interstate 70 widening project. (Helen H. Richardson, Denver Post file)
Re: “At a crossroads on road funding,” Sept. 27 editorial.
Your editorial was accurate about gas tax revenue declining, but it failed to mention any number of alternate solutions. Tolling based on license plate recognition systems on highways could raise plenty of money for maintenance, and is economically efficient and cost-effective to implement. Development impact fees on new construction to pay for increased capacity charge exactly those who are creating the new demand. Both of these approaches can be done without an election; they just require courage and foresight by the legislature and the governor. As for privatization, it doesn’t provide one dime’s worth of new revenue, and is the worst of all possible approaches to borrowing money since it gives away control without having any certainty as to how things will be managed. With a reliable revenue stream from either of the above suggested approaches, bonding would be easy, and in fact also could be done without an election — just use the enterprise approach allowed by TABOR.
Steve Pomerance, Boulder
This letter was published in the Oct. 4 edition.
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