CDOT Has Been Addressing Infrastructure Needs, A Lot Of Funds Needed
By Joel Hillan
DENVER (CBS4) - The director of the Colorado Department of Transportation, Shailen Bhatt, toured cities across the state of Colorado, addressing infrastructure needs.
CDOT says the projects will cost $20 billion over the next 20 years.
Bhatt says that it is time to get real about how we are going to fund the infrastructure projects.
"I have literally gone around the state the last two days from Pueblo to Grand Junction to Durango to Longmont and everybody's got their project," Bhatt said. "So whether it's $500 million to fix Floyd Hill or a new Pueblo freeway or important projects in Grand Junction or the Denver metro area, there's a huge shortfall and you can't fix a $1 billion (a) year budget shortfall by just moving small numbers around. You've got to go to the people and raise revenue like other states have done."
Gov. John Hickenlooper may call a special legislative session. If not it could be headed to a ballot initiative this fall.
Joel Hillan is CBS4's Traffic Specialist and is featured on the CBS4 Morning News. Follow Joel on Twitter @joelhillan.