The oldest bridge on the FASTER list for replacement is the nearly 90-year-old cliff-hugging Million Dollar Highway bridge over Bear Creek Falls near Ouray. Inside Lane photo.

The Telluride Watch reports that drivers who regularly use Red Mountain Pass can expect major road construction starting this August when the Colorado Department of Transportation will begin a $5.7 million Bear Creek Bridge replacement project on U.S. Hwy. 550 south of Ouray.

Phase I of the project is expected to begin on Aug. 1 and end approximately Nov. 1, CDOT Region 5 Resident Engineer Ed Archuleta told the Ouray County Commissioners on Monday.

Go to the Telluride Watch to see the entire report.

CO 96 wood timber bridge over draw in Kiowa County, 3.3 miles east of Crowley County line.

By Kevin Flynn
Inside-Lane.com

A total of $25.3 million in state highway projects funded by the FASTER program is in CDOT’s pipeline, including replacement of four wooden bridges along a state highway where volunteer firefighters died in 2008 crossing where a fifth wooden bridge had been destroyed in a wildfire.

The 10 separate projects include $8.2 million in bridge replacements and $17.1 million in road safety work.

The list includes those under contract, those with bids already taken and those currently out for bids.

FASTER, which stands for Funding Advancement for Surface Transportation and Economic Recovery, was passed by the legislature last year. It represents the first new local funding to come in to state transportation projects in 19 years, since the gas tax was last increased. Some of FASTER’s revenue is allocated to cities and counties for local roads.

FASTER established two separate fees, earmarked to road safety projects and to replacement of the 124 poor-rated bridges on the state highway network.

The annual road safety fee is a sliding scale based on vehicle weight. Ranging from $16 for light vehicles to $39 for vehicles over eight tons, the owner of the average passenger car between one and two and a half tons would pay $23.

The bridge fee is also a sliding scale based on weight, and is being phased in over three years. Currently at $9 for the average passenger car, it will be $18 in two more years.

As a result, the owner of an average passenger car would pay $41 in 2011-12 between the two fees.

Among the bridges being replaced this year are four wooden structures on CO 96 in Crowley and Kiowa counties in southeast Colorado. It was on this corridor that a fifth wooden bridge west of Ordway burned in the grassfires of April 2008, and a fire truck from the Olney Springs volunteers rushing to help protect Ordway plunged over the abutment and into the Numa Drain Canal. Two firefighters died in the crash. The structures had been built in the 1930s and 1940s.

Here is the list of FASTER projects currently in the process of contracting:

FASTER Safety Projects

Under contract:
• I-70 between the Eisenhower Tunnel and Bakerville: Upgrades median barrier and resurfaces I-70. Asphalt Specialties, $2,955,811.15
• I-25 between approximately CO 392 and Harmony Road: Rubblizes and repairs failing concrete on I-25. Coulson Excavating, $9,384,771.55

Bids received:
• I-70 between Eisenhower Tunnel and Silverthorne: Installs electronic signage to manage truck speeds and the westbound runaway truck ramp. Sturgeon Electric, $577,954
• I-70 at Georgetown Hill: Installs electronic signage to warn motorists of slow moving or stopped traffic. Sturgeon Electric, $122,513
• US 285 between Bailey and Richmond Hill: Paves US 285 in asphalt, installs guardrail, improves lane transitions at the end of the existing climbing lanes and widens shoulders. LaFarge North American, dba LaFarge West Inc., $2,662,412.20

Currently under ad for bids:
• CO 93 at CO 170, Eldorado Springs: Upgrades the traffic signal at the intersection. Engineer’s estimate, $330,000
• CO 392 at Weld County Road 31: Installs a new traffic signal at the intersection. Engineer’s estimate, $300,000
• I-76 near Hudson: Installs median cable guardrail to help prevent crossover accidents.- Engineer’s estimate, $750,000

FASTER Bridge Projects
• CO 69 over Turkey Creek: Bridge replacement. Engineer’s estimate, $3 million
• CO 96 over Draw and Black Draw: Replaces four bridges. Engineer’s estimate, $5.2 million

Colorado Senate Scheduled to Vote on Highway Robbery

By a vote of 38 to 27, the Colorado House of Representatives voted on April 2 to approve HB 10-1387, which seeks to annually divert approximately $20 million ̶ $200 million over the coming decade ̶ away from the Highway User Tax Fund (HUTF), which pays for bridge and highway repairs, to the Department of Revenue for administering/issuing driver’s licenses and associated examinations, renewals, permits, and State identification cards.

The Colorado Senate is scheduled to debate the bill on Second Reading tomorrow, Thursday, April 8, on the Senate floor.

“When legislators and Governor Ritter approved last year’s vehicle registration fee increase (SB 09-108 or the so-called “FASTER” bill), they did so recognizing that the State of Colorado owns $500 million in annual unfunded deferred maintenance backlog. That vehicle registration fee increase is a vital step toward repairing the State’s 128 structurally-deficient bridges and hundreds of miles of deteriorating highways,” said Colorado Contractors Association Executive Director Tony Milo.

“How do the Governor and those who voted for FASTER honestly tell their constituents that the number of structurally-deficient bridges and poor highways required a vehicle registration fees increase last year, but then turnaround this year and divert tens of millions away from those same structurally-deficient bridges and high-priority highway projects,” Milo continued. “Do legislators really believe the public and media will endorse diverting $20 million per year ̶ $200 million over the next decade ̶ away from road and bridge projects after they just approved FASTER? It’s fiscally reckless and wholly unnecessary,” said Milo.

“We respectfully, but in the strongest possible terms, urge every Senator and Governor Ritter to reject HB10-1387,” Milo concluded. “Approving that bill in any form will exacerbate Colorado’s challenges in addressing the state’s structurally-deficient bridge and highway maintenance.”

State figures for total registrations showed 5,067,035 license plates registered in Colorado as of Jan. 31. That is 54,223 fewer than were registered as of June 30.

Late fees on non-motorized trailers became a sore point for many Coloradans when FASTER bumped up the penalty from a flat $10 to a new rate of $25 per month it is late, up to a maximum of $100. Trailer owners accustomed to picking up their tags when they broke out seasonal trailers for use and simply paying the $10 or even getting waivers from county clerks instead complained to the clerks and lawmakers about the penalties.

Last year’s increase in auto registration fees aimed at raising separate funds for repairs of poor-rated bridges and roadways – a program known as FASTER, the first new funding stream for highway repairs in Colorado in 18 years – has brought in slightly less revenue than projected in part because of fewer auto registrations than analysts projected.

As a result, the Colorado Department of Transportation won’t be able to fund all of the projects it initially put on its lists for road and bridge repairs.

Regular trailers comprise the third-largest category of plates. In June, there were 599,556 registered regular trailers in the state. At the end of January, there were 581,520.

Colorado has 104 types of license plates on the streets right now. The largest single category is regular passenger vehicles, which declined from 2,550,612 in June to 2,541,988 at the end of January. Regular light trucks are the second-largest category, declining from 728,422 in June to 718,945 in January.

You can read the breakdown of plates for June here, and compare it to the January breakdown here.

House members voted Friday to reject the Senate’s attempt to limit the fines paid by owners of trailers of any size who turn in their vehicle-registration fees late. The Senate is now in the position of acceding to the House’s more limited fee-break proposal or killing the bill altogether, likely finishing the session without any substantial changes to one of the biggest bills of 2009.

Go to the Denver Business Journal to read the entire story.

By Kevin Flynn
Inside-Lane.com

The low bidder on the first bridge replacement project funded by the FASTER bill’s increase in vehicle registration fees was the one closest to the job.

Walsenburg Sand and Gravel Co. bid $1,837,111 to replace the bridge over Turkey Creek on CO 69 near Farisita. The project includes realignment of a half mile of the highway at the bridge. Walsenburg and Farisita are both in Huerfano County.

The Colorado Department of Transportation received seven bids for this first FASTER project. The other bidders were scattered between Longmont and Pueblo and as Far East as Swink. They were Zak Dirt Inc. of Longmont, Colorado Constructors Inc. of Denver, TLM Constructors of Swink, Tricon 2 of Castle Rock, Bassett Construction of Pueblo and SEMA Construction of Centennial.

All of the bids were over the engineer’s estimate of $1,750,941, with Walsenburg’s five percent higher. They ranged as high as $2,328,620.

The 1932 steel low-truss bridge on CO 69 over Turkey Creek in Huerfano County will be the first on replaced under the FASTER program. A Walsenburg company was the low bidder. CDOT photo.

The Turkey Creek bridge was built in 1932 and was rehabilitated 45 years ago. CO 96 is an original state highway from the 1920s. You can read the history of CO 96 at Matt Salek’s Highways of Colorado site. The Turkey Creek bridge is a steel low-truss two-lane structure 62 feet in length. It is rated 26.9 on a scale of 100 for structural deficiency and it is one of the 124 bridges on CDOT’s list of poor-rated structures that FASTER was set up to replace.

Under the FASTER program, vehicle owners pay an extra “bridge safety fee” and a “road safety fee” (click here for the fee schedule) earmarked toward repairing unsafe bridges and roads across the state. The bridge fee is phased in over three years, with the average passenger vehicle costing $9 this fiscal year and rising to $18 by 2011-2012. The road safety fee is $23 for the average passenger vehicle, for an eventual total of $41 per year. Lighter and heavier vehicles vary.

The Colorado Transportation Commission last summer selected up to 17 candidate bridges for replacement with the first year’s FASTER revenue, but the fees haven’t met projections so far and it is uncertain how many can be put under contract this first year.

CDOT will soon be accepting bids for three more FASTER bridge replacement projects – U.S. 24 over Twin Creek in Teller County, U.S. 24 eastbound over Fountain Creek in El Paso County and CO 67 over a draw north of Woodland Park in Teller County. That last bridge is made of wood and was built in 1939.

Two bills making changes to the fees, sponsored by Democrats, have gone forward.

Go to the Denver Business Journal to read the entire article.

This wooden bridge carrying CO 67 over a draw in Teller County was built in 1939 and is one of the 124 poor-rated bridges FASTER is designed to replace. CDOT photo.

By Kevin Flynn
Inside-Lane.com

The beefed-up late fees that came with last year’s FASTER bill to fund repair of the state’s unsafe bridges and poor-condition roadways had the well-documented result of angering procrastinating motorists who found themselves hit with late charges up to $100 instead of $10.

But they have also had a much quieter and positive effect.

More and more people are registering their vehicles on time rather than letting their expired registrations lag.

That is reflected in an estimate put together by the Colorado Legislative Council, the nonpartisan analytical arm of the General Assembly.

According to a fiscal note prepared for analysis of HB 1173, which would restore to county clerks some discretion to waive FASTER late fees in circumstances beyond the control of a vehicle owner, late fees for the upcoming fiscal year that starts in July are projected to be only a small percentage of what they were in the first year.

Complete numbers are unavailable for the current year – obviously, we’re still in it – but in just the first six months that FASTER was in effect, late fee revenue amounted to $11.8 million from July through December.

While the second six months, through this June, are unlikely to see that level, it will only add to the total.

But for the 2010-11 fiscal year, Legislative Council’s projection for late fees is much less, an indication that the publicity has owners going through their piles of paperwork and making sure they register on time.

“Based on the current declining trend in late vehicle registrations, approximately $4.3 million in total late fees will be collected in FY 2010-11,” the council fiscal analyst Kurtis Morrison wrote in the memo.

That means the entire 12-month projection for next year is only 36 percent of the six-month total from last year, a huge drop in revenue but a big improvement in citizen compliance with on-time vehicle registration.

In the original bill last year, the legislative council had predicted that the break-in period of FASTER would see somewhat of a surge in late fees due to raising them from a flat $10 for any duration to $25 per month up to four months. But it also said that after this “initial period, collections from late registration fees are not expected to be significant.”

FASTER is anticipated to raise from $200 to $250 million a year – the bridge replacement fee is being implemented in three annual stages, hence the increasing amount over time. It was the first new revenue to come into the state’s Highway Users Tax Fund in 18 years, since Colorado’s gas tax last was increased in 1991.

FASTER revenue is earmarked for repair or replacement of CDOT’s 124 poor-rated bridges and for repair of poor-rated roadways. The road repair money is shared among CDOT, counties and municipalities through the state Highway Users Tax Fund. CDOT must also spend at least $10 million in FASTER revenue each year on transit-related projects that improve state highway safety for transit users.

Even though late fees are declining precipitously, the legislature is debating this year over at least a half dozen bills in response to the outrage with which motorists greeted the fees last summer.

Two bills have advanced.

One, sponsored by FASTER’s prime mover from last year, Democratic Rep. Joe Rice of Littleton, and Sen. Gail Schwartz, a Democrat from Pitkin County, would allow clerks to consider certain circumstances, such as acts of God and weather-related delays, office closures and medical hardships. HB 1212 bill directs the Department of Revenue to write the rules and regulations and ensure the policy is uniform across the state.

The full House has passed that on to the Senate, along with another bill, HB 1211. That one would limit total late fees to $10 on non-motorized vehicles such as utility trailers that weigh up to 2,000 pounds, no matter how long the delay in registering.

Sponsored by Rep. Max Tyler, a Jefferson County Democrat, and Sen. Suzanne Williams, an Arapahoe County Democrat, HB 1211 would allow the county governments to retain that $10 instead of going into the FASTER program.

It would leave in place the $25 monthly late fees, up to a cap of $100, on late registrations of other vehicles including cars. Under previous law, clerks could waive all or a portion of the fees. FASTER did away with that discretion.

Other bills dealing with FASTER are awaiting committee action:
• HB 1102 (Rep. Carol Murray, R-Castle Rock, and Sen. Mike Kopp, R-Littleton): Reduces the late fee to a maximum of $25 for non-motorized vehicles weighing 2,000 pounds or less; exempts the fee for owners who provide an affidavit stating they have not operated the vehicle on a public highway; exempts mobile machinery and self-propelled construction equipment whose owners provide an affidavit that the machinery or equipment has not been operated at all.
• HB 1173 (Rep. Brian DelGrosso, R-Loveland, and Sen. Scott Renfroe, R-Greeley): Prohibits imposition of late fees for any portion of a calendar month in which a temporary registration plate, tag, or certificate expires; allows county clerks to waive a late fee based on circumstances beyond the control of the vehicle owner.
• HB 1268 (Rep. Steve King, R-Grand Junction): Requires the state to implement an two-year registration program for most vehicles that is optional to vehicle owners, and which if the owner selects it would exempt the owner from late fees.
• SB 4 (Sen. Al White, R-Hayden): Repeals the new late fees and restores the previous flat $10 fee that can be waived at the discretion of the county clerks.
• SB 44 (Sen. Kevin Lundberg, R-Berthoud, and Rep. Kent Lambert, R-Colorado Springs): Repeals the new late fees and restores the previous flat $10 fee that can be waived at the discretion of the county clerks.
• SB 57 (Sen. Bill Cadman, R-Colorado Springs): Applies FASTER late fees only to motorized vehicles and mobile machinery; all non-motorized vehicle would be subject only to a single late fee of $10, which clerks could waive as before; all late fees for non-motorized vehicles would be retained by the county governments rather than going into the state Highway Users Tax Fund.
• SB 137 (Sen. Renfroe and Rep. Cory Gardner, R-Yuma): Creates new class of registration called “no street use” allowing vehicle owners to idle unused vehicles and be exempt from paying any FASTER fees at all. Tabs would be distinctive colors and vehicles owners would be subject to additional penalties if found to be driving it on public roads.

The Colorado Capitol.

Lawmakers in the Colorado House passed some exceptions Tuesday to the controversial late fees in last year’s FASTER bill, including one that allows commercial trailer owners to avoid the fee if they can document they had idled that part of their fleet.

But the scope of the changes is limited and leaves most of the late fees in place.

Two bills on the subject – HB 1211 and HB 1212 – passed 62-2 with one absence. Rep. Ed Casso of Adams County and Rep. Jeanne Labuda of Denver, both Democrats, voted no.

They now go to the Senate.

One bill gives registration authorities – mostly county clerks – the ability to waive fees for an expanded number of reasons, and for commercial trailer owners to avoid the fee by documenting that they have idled the unregistered portion of their fleets.

HB 1212, sponsored by Rep. Joe Rice, a Littleton Democrat, and Sen. Gail Schwartz, a Democrat from Pitkin County, would allow clerks to consider certain circumstances, such as acts of God and weather-related delays, office closures and medical hardships. The bill directs the Department of Revenue to write the rules and regulations and ensure the policy is uniform across the state.

The bill was amended in the House Transportation and Energy Committee earlier this month to allow commercial trailer owners who idle part of their fleet to be exempt from the late fee when they re-register them as long as they can document that the trailers were not on the road in that time and the owner gives the business reason for it.

The second bill limits total late fees to $10, no matter how long the delay in registering, on non-motorized vehicles – here, read utility trailers and the like – that weigh up to 2,000 pounds.

Sponsored by Rep. Max Tyler, a Jefferson County Democrat, and Sen. Suzanne Williams, an Arapahoe County Democrat, HB 1211 would allow the county governments to retain that $10 instead of going into the FASTER program.

Left in place would be the $25 monthly late fees, up to a cap of $100, on other late registrations. Under previous law, clerks could waive all or a portion of the fees. But FASTER did away with that discretion.

The changes had the support of FASTER backers as well as last year’s opponents in the House.

FASTER was passed last year to address a critical shortfall in transportation funding. Amid the controversy surrounding it, critics tried to label it a tax increase rather than a fee, while supporters said it is a fee on vehicles that is tied directly to their use of poor-rated bridges and roads. The revenues are earmarked to a separate Bridge Enterprise Fund, charged with repair or replacement of the state highway system’s poor bridges, which currently number 124, and to a Road Safety Fund for repair of poor-rated roads. Colorado’s cities and counties share in the fund for repairs to non-state highways.

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

The fees are on a sliding scale by vehicle weight, and the bridge fee is phased in over three years. By 2012, the average passenger car will be charged a total of $41 – $23 for the road fund and $18 for the bridge fee.

FASTER has been drawn into the gun sights of anti-tax activists who have petitioned three measures onto the fall ballot that, among other things, would eliminate the FASTER fees and, in fact, effectively all of the user fees collected from vehicles owners at registration to help pay for the cost of roads and bridges.

Even with all this controversy, the $250 million per year that FASTER is estimated to raise – the first new revenue stream earmarked to transportation infrastructure in 18 years – is still only half the amount experts say is needed just for the state, counties and cities to play catch-up with deferred maintenance.

Pulling back on some of the late fees is projected to cost the program an estimated $413,000 a year. Budget forecasters hadn’t figured on a lot of the late fees in their FASTER revenue projections. So between sessions, lawmakers agreed to make some adjustments to address the criticism.

One of the two steel truss bridges carrying US 50 over the Gunnison River in Gunnison that is on CDOT's wish list to repair with federal funds next year. CDOT photo.

By Kevin Flynn
Inside-Lane.com

The Colorado Department of Transportation has put 40 highway and airport projects totaling $136.8 million on its wish list for federal grants in 2011.

Each year, the U.S. Department of Transportation awards what it calls discretionary grants, over and above each state’s usual formula funding, in targeted areas such as bridge repair, interstate maintenance, scenic byways and others.

There are 31 highway projects on the list, totaling $90.3 million, and nine airport projects totaling $46.5 million. You can read the entire CDOT list here.

Because it focuses on specific needs, discretionary funding can quickly be put to good use – a series of such grants was used by CDOT to replace the old Interstate 25 viaduct over Broadway and the railroad mainline at the same time T-REX was under construction, allowing both new projects to open at the same time and effectively making the T-REX improvements go a little bit farther.

The federal government sets up funding in various categories and then solicits candidate projects from the states. Projects are selected based on how well they fit the criteria for each category.

This US 24 bridge over California Gulch three miles south of Leadville, built in 1934, is one of those up for replacement if CDOT wins a federal discretionary grant it is seeking for next year. CDOT photo.

Other requests include $6.6 million to replace the Sixth Avenue Freeway bridge over Sheridan Boulevard, on the Denver-Lakewood line; $5.5 million for four miles of concrete resurfacing on Interstate 70 in Glenwood Canyon; $5 million to reconstruct I-70 in concrete from Tower Road to Colfax Avenue, and $4 million to replace the CO 120 span over the Arkansas River and Union Pacific Railroad in Fremont County.

The Sixth Avenue bridge and the CO 120 bridge are two of the 124 poor-rated bridges in the state that are part of the FASTER program. Drivers are being charged an average of up to $18 a year extra on their vehicle registrations to replace poor-rated bridges under the law passed last year. The Sixth Avenue span was built in 1961 and is rated 45.1 on a scale of 100 as structurally deficient. The Fremont County bridge is a steel truss structure built in 1927 and is rated 17.9 for being functionally obsolete.

You can take a photo tour of the 124 bridges on a map of the state by clicking here.

Among the airport projects for which funds are being requested are $13 million to extend the runway at Aspen’s Sardy Field; $7 million for a wildlife fence at Walker Field in Grand Junction; $7 million for an apron extension at Denver International Airport; $5 million for taxiway rehabilitation at Colorado Springs Municipal Airport, and $4 million for runway rehabilitation at Front Range Airport.

While CDOT isn’t likely to get all it asks for, it will enlist the help of the state’s congressional delegation to push for them.

There’s reason for that.

CDOT says the projects are a priority that “address pressing needs of the state transportation system.” They are already on the Statewide Transportation Improvement Program and were selected in consultation with the Statewide Transportation Advisory Committee. The Colorado Transportation Commission approved the list at its January meeting.