“You can’t buy a car today for what you paid in 1992,” Bhatt said. “You can’t buy a house today for what you paid in 1992. But we are investing in our transportation system like it’s 1992.”
—from a 2016 article on the CPR.org website.
Cynda Green and I arrived near the conclusion of last night’s Colorado Department of Transportation (CDOT) presentation, just in time to hear a sales pitch for the ballot measure known as Proposition 110… and then hear a few questions from a concerned audience about the future of downtown Pagosa Springs.
We’d not expected a lecture/presentation format, because the previous CDOT community meeting concerning US Highway 160 had been a free-form, “wander around and look at the drawings” type event. But a lecture it was.
Luckily, Cynda and I had attended a similar presentation yesterday, at the noon Joint Meeting of the Board of County Commissioners and Pagosa Springs Town Council, where we’d viewed the current “concept” drawings of Highway 160 as it might appear, someday, through the nine blocks of downtown Pagosa.
As it might appear, someday, if CDOT can find the money. Which brings us back to Proposition 110.
I didn’t catch the name of the woman who was explaining Proposition 110 — a proposed sales tax increase that will appear on this November’s ballot. She began by assuring us that she was not allowed, under Colorado campaign laws, to urge a ‘Yes’ vote on the ballot measure, and that her intention was merely to provide “information.” But she was also careful not to mention any of the possible “downsides” to this tax increase concept.
We’ll get back to Proposition 110 (and Proposition 109) shortly. But first, the bad news. Or maybe it’s good news?
We’ll start with a photo of the half dozen engineers and consultants that gave the presentation at the noon Joint Meeting:
These engineers would like to change Highway 160, through downtown, in some fundamental ways. Like, for example, eliminating the on-street parking in the downtown core.
The background info:
Once upon a time, US Highway 160 — as it runs through downtown Pagosa Springs — had smooth, new pavement, and fairly easily accommodated the local and non-local traffic that traveled through Pagosa’s downtown. But certain business and government leaders, locally and in Denver, wanted Pagosa Springs to grow, alongside the growing state of Colorado.
Grow, we did.
Once upon a time — back in, say, 1992 — the population of Archuleta County was around 5,700. Today, it’s more than twice that number, according to the US Census. Back in 1992, the population of Colorado was about 3.5 million. Today, it’s closer to 5.6 million. Not quite double.
Meanwhile, the Colorado Department of Transportation — CDOT — has seen a slew of virtual and actual budget reductions over the past decade. One of the primary funding mechanisms for road maintenance is Colorado’s Gasoline Tax. Back in 1992, the Gas Tax was 22 cents per gallon. Today, it’s 22 cents per gallon.
But 22 cents, in 2018, is worth about 10 cents in 1992 dollars.
To put all that information into a convenient package, the roads and highways in Colorado and Pagosa Springs are serving about twice as many automobiles and trucks, with less than half the Gas Tax revenues. According to my pocket calculator, that means our Gas Tax revenue is about one-quarter what it was in 1992. Per capita.
Which might help explain this chart, posted on the CPR.org website two years ago:
Vehicles in Colorado traveled 49 billion miles on state highways and roads in 2012, and by 2040, that number is expected to jump to nearly 70 billion miles, according to the CDOT estimates. Those roads and highways require maintenance, and we’ve seen a bit of that here in Pagosa Springs recently. But where will $24.9 billion come from?
From the above-mentioned CPR.org article, from 2016:
Right now, CDOT only has enough money to maintain the state’s highway system in its current condition for the next 10 years. After that? Current projected state revenues will cover just 46 percent of Colorado’s transportation needs over the next 25 years. The department faces a $25 billion revenue shortfall over that period, including a nearly $9 billion shortage over the next 10 years.
Meanwhile, the state’s population is expected to climb from its current 5.4 million to an estimated 8 million by 2040. More than 100,000 people moved to Colorado last year alone, as the state posted the second-highest growth rate in the nation, according to the State Demography Office.
“And I think those 100,000 new people who moved here, I think every single one of them brought a car with them,” said state Sen. Pat Steadman, D-Denver. He and his fellow lawmakers of both parties agree that roads need more funding to keep up with population realities. But there is no consensus inside the Capitol as to how to fix those problems.
“I would say that we’re in for some significant challenges and we’re experiencing them – and we’re experiencing them now,” Bhatt said.
But we’re mainly concerned with Archuleta County, right? And there’s a CDOT plan for Pagosa Springs that includes a rather massive reconstruction of Highway 160 through the nine blocks of downtown. Part of that plan involves the replacement of the McCabe Creek culverts — apparently destined to collapse from old age at some point in the future. Perhaps during the next big flood event.
Those culverts run under Highway 160, near the intersection of South 6th Street, and CDOT wants to replace the culverts with a more stable bridge design. And while that work is being done, CDOT hopes to replace the problematic asphalt pavement in the downtown core with a more stable concrete roadway. (We’ve watched CDOT struggle, lately, with buckling asphalt on pretty much an annual basis.)
But all of this depends on CDOT finding the money.
That money could come from Proposition 110. Or so we are told.