It’s Past Time to Invest in Colorado’s Transportation System & Concrete Pavement is Essential to Solving our Challenges

Colorado’s roadways are in rough shape, and TRIP’s “Keeping Colorado Mobile” report released in early March in combination with the 2021 ASCE Infrastructure Report Card confirm what Colorado drivers experience every day.

A few highlights from the TRIP report:

• Nearly half of Colorado’s major locally and state-maintained roads are in poor or mediocre 
• condition.
• Congested roads, highways and bottlenecks choke commuting and commerce and cost Colorado drivers $3.5 billion each year in the form of lost time and wasted fuel.
• From 2000 to 2019, vehicle travel in Colorado increased by 31%, the 9^th highest rate in the country.
• Traffic congestion causes up to 62 annual hours of delay for motorists in some urban areas and costs drivers as much as $1,242 annually in lost time and wasted fuel.

ASCE presented several solutions to raise our national roadway grade from its current mark as a D.  They include:

• Increase funding from all levels of government and the private sector to address the condition and operations of the roadway system to maintain a state of good repair and ensure safety for all users.
• Fix the federal Highway Trust Fund…to ensure long-term, sustainable funding for the federal surface transportation program.
• Develop state and local level comprehensive transportation asset management plans that link asset management efforts to long-term transportation planning and incorporate the use of life-cycle cost analysis.

If we want to improve our roadway conditions from a dismal D rating and reduce the financial impact on individual Coloradans, we must be willing to commit to a long-term plan to invest in our transportation system.  That investment must include CONCRETE PAVEMENT SOLUTIONS to extend the life of our roadways and carry the increased freight traffic expected.