Meet the first bridge expected to be replaced with your increased auto registration fees under the FASTER program — a 1938 vintage steel through-truss on CO 69 in Huerfano County, rated poor with a 26.9 out of 100 for structural deficiency. Bid-taking may be authorized by CDOT next week.

By Kevin Flynn
Inside-Lane.com

FASTER is proving to be slower at raising the projected revenue for fixing Colorado’s poor-rated bridges.

While initially expected to raise $50.6 million this year for the new Bridge Enterprise Fund through a newly imposed registration fee of $9 per average passenger vehicle earmarked for bridge repairs, the FASTER fees have come in more slowly than anticipated and are now projected to raise $45.6 million this year — a nine-percent drop from expectations.

Through December, FASTER’s $9 bridge safety fee collected $19,584,785 in six months. Colorado’s state budget year runs from July through June. The figures are in the first annual report on the FASTER Bridge Enterprise Fund, set up to ensure the fees go to their intended purpose. The report was issued on Thursday by the Colorado Department of Transportation.

The bridge fee increases over the next two years to $13.50 and then $18. A separate FASTER road safety registration fee of $23 per average passenger vehicle was also levied. Fees for smaller and larger vehicles also vary by weight.

This table shows the fee schedule set under the FASTER Bill to fund transportation road and bridge safety projects.

CDOT also has revised its forecasts for FASTER bridge revenue in subsequent years as the full fee takes effect. For the next fiscal year starting in June, it now expects $72 million instead of $75 million, and in the 2011-12 fiscal year and beyond, it anticipated $92 million instead of $100 million.

You can read CDOT’s annual Bridge Enterprise Fund report here.

FASTER provided the first new revenue source for road and bridge maintenance in 18 years, when the gas tax last was raised. FASTER revenue is shared with the state, counties and cities.

Last August, the Colorado Transportation Commission selected 17 candidate bridges for repair or replacement with the first year’s funds from FASTER. It was an optimistic list, with the $70.44 million total cost of the projects exceeding the projected revenue, but some of the projects had other non-FASTER revenue sources to add to the mix and it’s always better to have more projects shovel-ready than not enough.

Even so, the lower-than-projected revenue – the result of fewer vehicle registrations and in a different mix of weight classes than projected over the first six months – makes it less likely than ever that all 17 can be done this year. Here is a photo tour of the initial 17 bridges that were selected.

CDOT expects to approve advertisement for construction bids on the first FASTER bridge project next week at the monthly commission meeting. The first bridge replacement project will be the CO 69 span over Turkey Creek in Huerfano County, about 18 miles northwest of Walsenburg. It is a steel through-truss structure built in 1939, and the replacement cost is estimated to be $3 million. It is rated at 26.9 on a scale of 100, for structural deficiency. A rating under 50 is “poor.”

That will quickly be followed by several more bid solicitations.

“Several others are scheduled to follow close behind with advertisement and construction,” the CDOT report reads. “First construction is anticipated to begin this spring. A majority of the candidate bridges are anticipated to have construction contracts awarded by midyear.

“All bridges on this list are scheduled to be advertised and bid before the end of 2010.”

CDOT staff is working on the 2010-11 fiscal year list of bridges.

There are many from which to choose.

There are 124 poor-rated bridges in the state, and you can take a picture tour of them here, with all their vital stats, through a Google Maps directory set up by Inside Lane.