DISPATCHES FROM THE BLUE ZONES: Misspent transportation dollars keep Colorado’s roads crumbling.

Last month, the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) quantified this dismal state of affairs: barely one-third of our state roads are in “good” condition, far below the national average.

According to Colorado Department of Transportation’s own analysis, 71% of all highway miles under state maintenance have less than 10 years of “drivability” remaining, including more than 800 miles where the drivability life is completely exhausted.
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Why can’t we have good roads? It’s simple: those in charge at the State Capitol would rather discourage us from driving than use the taxes we already pay to properly maintain our highways.

In 2021, the Democrat-controlled legislature passed a $5.4 billion package of new “fees” – including a yearly increase in fuel taxes plus that irritating 29-cent charge only Coloradans pay on orders from Amazon – to boost the transportation budget.

The problem is most of that money isn’t spent to build or repair our highways.

“The state now takes transportation-related fees and directs them toward environmental mitigation, mass transit, and demand management efforts rather than infrastructure,” according to a study by the Common Sense institute that pierced the thick veil of obfuscation that is Colorado’s transportation budget.

Democrats took control. The rest was inevitable.