Planners are including several projects on US 36, including reconstruction of the road to lengthen the car pool-bus lanes for single-driver toll traffic, in case Congress passes a second stimulus act. CDOT photo.

By Kevin Flynn
Inside-Lane.com

With the possibility of a second wave of stimulus funding coming out of Washington, Colorado’s transportation planners are taking early action to try to stay ahead of the crest.

They are solidifying lists of shovel-ready projects that can quickly ride that wave from the drawing board to the ground.

The Colorado Department of Transportation has a preliminary list of 90 candidate projects statewide, totaling $701.3 million, which you can read by clicking here. It is accepting public comment on them through March 2. You can send you comments to Jamie Collins, Colorado Department of Transportation, 4201 E. Arkansas Ave., Room 235, Denver CO 80222, or email them to him at jamie.d.collins@dot.state.co.us.

Replacement of the 80th Avenue bridge over US 36 is on the preliminary list for a second stimulus program. CDOT photo.

The biggest set of projects under consideration are along a four-and-a-half mile stretch of U.S. 36 in the Denver metro area, where five separate jobs are listed between Federal Boulevard and 104th Avenue, with a total value of $164.4 million. They include:
• $87 million for reconstruction of the highway between Federal and Sheridan boulevards in Adams County;
• $41 million for replacement of the bridge that carries U.S. 36 over Lowell Boulevard;
• $23 million for highway reconstruction between 92nd and 104th Avenue;
• $12.4 million for reconstruction of the 80th Avenue bridge over U.S. 36;
• $1 million to restripe the widened highway for managed lanes, which would allow buses, car pools and toll-paying solo motorists.

All together, 47 of the projects on CDOT’s list are in the nine-county area covered by the Denver Regional Council of Governments, which includes Clear Creek and Gilpin counties up to the Continental Divide. They total $421.4 million.

You can read the DRCOG portion of the list by clicking here. DRCOG has scheduled a public hearing for 6:30 p.m. on March 3 at 1290 Broadway, as an opportunity for public input on which projects should get priority.

Local transportation officials know it is unlikely that all of the projects on the list will be funded, but having a robust list of ready projects will help them respond to whatever rules might come down for qualifying for the stimulus funds. Last year, for instance, the rules required that at least half the funds be obligated to projects within 90 days of receiving them. Colorado easily met that deadline, but it required prioritizing them in order to make sure.

“There is concern that a 2010 stimulus might have requirements for getting the projects delivered even more quickly than did the 2009 ARRA,” said Steve Rudy, DRCOG’s director of transportation planning and operations.

“The intent of the public hearing is to get public feedback on those projects, supportive or not,” Rudy said. “CDOT will listen to this information before it makes its final proposals, RTD will listen to this information before it makes its final proposals, and DRCOG board members will listen to this information before it acts to amend the (Transportation Improvement Plan) to include these projects.

“We’ll undoubtedly be paying attention to the process of any stimulus bill in Congress. If a bill is passed and signed before the public hearing, it probably says the need for action is more immediate, depending on what is actually included in the bill. If no bill has been passed, we will have gathered the information and it will be used at such a time as a bill is signed, if one is.

“Frankly, perhaps one of the most salient considerations will be, at such a time as there is a bill, which projects can actually meet the deadlines. CDOT is working diligently on all the projects on these lists, but not all of them will be ready if the time period stated in the act is very very short.”

The CDOT list contains projects all over Colorado. For instance:
• $16.7 million for concrete reconstruction of U.S. 40/287 near Hugo, part of the Ports-to-Plains Corridor through Texas, Oklahoma and New Mexico;
• $35 million to add a third lane in each direction on Interstate 25 between North Academy Road and Interquest Parkway in Colorado Springs;
• $18 million to reconstruct the Windsor interchange on I-25 at CO 392 in Larimer County;
• $43 million to reconstruct Interstate 76 between Fort Morgan and Brush.

According to the National Conference of State Legislatures, the second stimulus bill, which is being called the Jobs for Main Street Act of 2010, provides $27.5 billion for highway projects and $8.4 billion for transit projects. RTD is working on its shovel-ready list, which must be submitted by Feb. 18.

The bill also contains funding for other areas such as education, Medicaid, energy, housing, unemployment benefits, and so on. It is partly funded by savings from the 2008 Troubled Asset Relief Program, or TARP.