By Tony Milo

Tony Milo

That $500 million annual buildup, however, disguises the full magnitude of the “quiet crisis” Coloradans now confront.

If we intend to significantly reduce traffic congestion, establish better connections between regions within the state, improve local roads and strategically expand transit options, Coloradans need to invest three times that amount – a conservatively estimated $1.5 billion – in new, annually dedicated, inflation adjusted revenue.

On behalf of the Colorado Contractors Association (CCA), our 400 construction, equipment, goods and service provider companies, and the over 30,000 workers CCA members collectively employ, I invite you to join the men and women of CCA in consciously choosing a path to enhance the quality of life and economic vitality for all Coloradans.

Colorado legislators and Governor Ritter a few months ago approved Colorado Senate Bill 09-108 – dubbed the FASTER bill. FASTER creates weight-based Bridge Safety and Road Safety fees and a $2.00 daily car rental fee. Because over 80% of all vehicles registered in Colorado weigh less than 5,000 pounds, most Coloradans will pay $41 more per vehicle, per year (about $3.42 a month) on their vehicle registration bill.

The Colorado Department of Transportation (CDOT) projects that, when fully implemented, FASTER will generate about $250 million per year to help:

• save, restore and create Colorado jobs and jumpstart our State economy;
• accelerate repair/construction of Colorado’s most urgent bridge and road safety/maintenance priorities;
• invest in Colorado’s most urgent transit infrastructure priorities; and
• reduce Colorado’s $1.5 billion annual transportation infrastructure funding shortfall.

Colorado legislators and Governor Ritter demonstrated responsible, courageous and necessary leadership in supporting FASTER. They knew voting to approve FASTER’s fee increase would be difficult and unpopular. Nevertheless, they recognized that without prompt action, the cost to begin addressing Colorado’s infrastructure problems would exponentially increase in future years. Consequently, they made the tough, but necessary, decision to lead.

Colorado’s existing gas tax revenues generate a fraction of the dollars required to maintain – much less expand – Colorado’s network of roads, bridges, interchanges and tunnels.

FASTER makes Colorado’s road and bridges safer and ensures fewer Colorado workers and their families will face unemployment, home foreclosure and loss of healthcare insurance.

Please consider the following facts, which I believe led Governor Ritter and legislators to approve FASTER.

• Colorado taxpayers today own 128 structurally deficient, functionally obsolete, poorly rated bridges.

• 40% of our roads are in poor condition and 20% require complete reconstruction.

• Once a road deteriorates to the point where we must reconstruct it, taxpayers pay literally 7 times more then they otherwise would, had we completed the necessary preventive and deferred maintenance in a timely manner.

• Fuel taxes comprise 95% of Colorado’s bridge, highway, interchange and tunnel funding.

• Colorado last raised its fuel tax in 1991.

• The federal government last raised its fuel tax in 1993.

• Nineteen years of inflation (see Colorado Construction Cost Index) has eroded the purchasing power of State fuel tax revenues to the point that Colorado’s fuel tax dollar buys 60% less in transportation infrastructure improvements today than that same dollar bought in 1991.

• Colorado’s State Demographer projects Colorado’s population will grow by 2.6 million people in the next 25 years.

• The national economic downturn hit Colorado’s construction industry especially hard. Many civil construction companies and their equipment, goods and service suppliers have laid off between 20% and 40% of their respective workforces in the last 18 to 24 months. (The federal stimulus money is only now beginning to have its intended effect.)

I believe legislators and Governor Ritter acted reasonably and responsibly in approving the fee increase. Had they failed to approve FASTER, they would have been criticized for doing nothing – and rightly so.

While FASTER represents an important step forward, when fully implemented in three years, FASTER fee increase will annually generate about $250 million for road and bridge maintenance and transit infrastructure. In inflation adjusted terms, that equals 1/6th of Colorado’s annual $1.5 billion need.

I hope Coloradans recognize that in paying FASTER’s fee increase, we save a neighbor’s job and take a modest, but vital, step toward stabilizing Colorado’s deteriorating infrastructure and economy.

Looking beyond FASTER, what’s next? What do Coloradans believe are the wisest ways to save, restore and create jobs, safeguard road safety and enhance our collective quality of life?

How do we intend to pay for the CDOT services on which so many rely – and so many take for granted? Mountain pass snow removal, rock fall mitigation, right-of-way weed mowing and litter clean-up, highway resurfacing and de-icing/sanding are but a few of the public services CDOT provides.

I invite all Coloradans to engage state and local leaders in a candid, statewide, problem-solving dialog about not “if,” but “how,” we value our public infrastructure and collective quality of life and future.

Even with FASTER, short of substantial new, annually dedicated, inflation adjusted funding, Colorado’s transportation infrastructure will continue to deteriorate at the rate of at least $500 million per year. Failure to address that deferred maintenance backlog soon will compromise road safety, undermine Colorado’s competitive edge in the region and cost Colorado’s taxpayers, transportation system users and economy more in future years.

So, the next time you have an opportunity, thank Governor Ritter, legislators and your local County Commissioners, Mayors and City Council members for their collective courage and responsible leadership on the FASTER bill.

Then, ask them to look forward and share with you their respective $500 million to $1.5 billion transportation infrastructure solutions.

What’s your proposed $500 million to $1.5 billion transportation infrastructure solution?

Let the problem-solving discussions begin.
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Tony Milo is Executive Director of the Colorado Contractors Association (CCA), which represents approximately 400 civil construction companies and associated equipment, goods and service providers whom collectively employ over 30,000 employees throughout the state. Tony lives in Parker, Colorado and is the proud father of two teenagers.