Can we call a highway issue a trainwreck

The Joint Budget Committee today is hearing from the Colorado Department of Transportation. Doug Aden, Chairman of the Transportation Commission, is over from Grand Junction.

Whenever we look at the costs of maintaining the transportation system in this state, the numbers are simply overwhelming. Although transportation is the biggest beneficiary of Referendum C, we are not even treading water on the maintenance of our system.

The key costs of transportation construction have increased far more rapidly than other inflation in our society. Roads are built with asphalt, steel and gravel. These items have increased at about 6.4% per year over the last 25 years, but in 2005, construction inflation was 52% IN A SINGLE YEAR. This makes it difficult for the State to keep up with the transportation needs for the state. Although the state has transferred significant amount of dollars to CDOT (dollars that were made available by Referendum C), we are simply getting further and further behind.

In the next 27 years, CDOT expects to receive and have available to spend, about $28 billion dollars. Sounds like a lot. It is a lot, but the projection of the cost to maintain just what we've got today --- the current level of congestion, pavement condition, bridge condition and safety, is over twice as much, $64 billion. Wow. This is a large amount of money.

The Governor's Blue Ribbon Panel suggested an increase in annual registration fees and the use of an increased severance tax of 1.7%. I am not certain that this is the right solution, but I do know that we cannot continue to ignore this problem and hope it goes away. It will, in fact, just get worse.