Legislature eyes 'unprecedented' deficit for roads

By Ed Sealover, Rocky Mountain News

Published August 6, 2008 at 12:05 a.m.

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Colorado's road funding is about to experience unprecedented losses, but residents apparently still do not consider it a crisis, state legislators learned Tuesday.

For the first time, all three of the main funding sources for state roads - the gas tax, federal revenues and a spillover account in the state budget - are set to decline at once, Colorado Department of Transportation Executive Director Russ George said.

Lower-than-expected federal revenues also could fall $80 million more, decimating construction and paving projects.

Still, a recent survey by the group Move Colorado showed that while voters are beginning to see transportation as a more pressing issue, they aren't ready yet to raise taxes, executive director Randy Harrison said.

In what is a two-edged sword, people who do not know the seriousness of the financial problems still believe CDOT can provide for transportation, he added.

The Transportation Legislative Review Committee began discussing funding options Tuesday that previously did not draw attention. Tolls on state highways, entering into more partnerships with private businesses, charging motorists more to travel at rush hour and providing incentives for more compact urban development are suddenly on the table.

"What Europe has seen as normal, we're finally looking at as new," committee Chairwoman Buffie McFadyen, D-Pueblo West, said of the ideas. "And it's the fact that we have no money that's motivating this committee to look at European models."

All of the ideas were discussed by a Blue-Ribbon Transportation Panel as it met throughout 2007 to try to find new funding for state roads and transit. The panel ultimately recommended a series of tax and fee hikes to raise $1.5 billion a year, but legislators quickly dismissed it as politically unpalatable.

Gas-tax revenues have fallen because of an increase in fuel-efficient vehicles and a decrease in driving with gas prices cresting over $4 per gallon. With state sales tax revenues forecast to decrease because of a slowing economy, the amount of money directed to transportation in the budget is expected to fall sharply over the next few years.

Most alarming may be a reduction in money from the soon-to-be-empty federal Highway Users Trust Fund. Colorado first expected to get $529.7 million from the HUTF this year but has lowered expectations to $337.1 million and may lose $80 million more.

Some Republicans disagreed with putting a tax hike before voters after trying to influence them to vote for it. Instead, some said the legislature should prioritize transportation spending in its budget and urge voters to pass a proposed constitutional amendment that would direct more severance tax revenues to roads.

"No matter what your poll says, I don't think the people of Colorado are stupid," Rep. Frank McNulty, R-Highlands Ranch, said. "I don't think we need to look at this as 'The people of Colorado need to be educated on this topic,' because I don't think they do."

sealovere@RockyMountainNews.com or 303-954-5438

What's next

Here are four transportation-funding ideas that are getting more attention from legislators:

* Congestion-based pricing: The idea that you charge motorists more to travel on congested roads, thereby forcing some of those roads and reducing congestion. This can be done by charging to drive on a highway during rush hour, charging a fee to cross a boundary into an area like Denver or offering both fee lanes and free lanes on the same road.

* Public-private partnerships: Deals that allow private companies to build or maintain roads and derive some profit from them. Some states have leased the rights to operate toll roads to private investors and put the newly gained revenues toward other road repairs.

* Tolls: This can also be done by a state that converts a public road into a pay road and continues to run that highway. Converting any road that was built with federal funds into a toll road requires a federal waiver, however.

* Transportation demand management: The basic idea is that the state prioritizes road-funding dollars to areas that increase urban density, allow for more use of transit and reduce vehicle miles traveled. Rep. Claire Levy, D-Boulder, ran an unsuccessful bill on this topic in 2008 and is likely to do so again next year.

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