CDOT Media Release

Recovery act transportation projects ahead of schedule in Colorado

The Federal Highway Administration this week approved Colorado’s last highway Recovery Act project, which means Colorado has now obligated all $385.6 million in highway funds nearly one month ahead of the March 2 deadline.

“This is a great accomplishment for Colorado,” Gov. Bill Ritter said. “We have guaranteed that the funds committed to us under the Recovery Act will stay in Colorado, helping to reboot our economy and keep hard-working Coloradans on the job. While the funds have been obligated, we have numerous projects that are still underway or just getting started, and those projects will play an important role in getting our economy healthy again and allowing us to improve our transportation system.”

The Colorado Department of Transportation and local agencies across the state have committed funds for 102 highway improvement projects. Among those, 95 projects have been advertised for bids, 77 projects are under contract, 69 projects are under construction and 19 projects are complete.

To see a list of projects, go to www.coloradodot.info/projects/arra.

Thanks to Recovery Act transportation projects under construction, the following job data has been reported as of Jan. 31:

• More than 16,200 direct jobs have been created or sustained.
• More than 980,000 direct job hours have been created or sustained.
• Nearly $20 million in payroll has been dispersed for job hours created or sustained.

In addition to the highway funds, Colorado received $121.2 million for transit improvements.

A new report from the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials found that Recovery Act-funded projects nationwide have created 280,000 direct jobs on 11,100 projects.

For more information about how Colorado is putting the Recovery Act to work, visit www.colorado.gov/recovery.