DALLAS - In a ceremony overlooking one of metropolitan Denver's busiest freeways, Colorado Gov. Bill Ritter yesterday signed SB 108 creating a $250 million revenue stream for bonds to accelerate road construction.
Joined by Sen. Dan Gibbs and Rep. Joe Rice, who sponsored the Funding Advancements for Surface Transportation and Economic Recovery legislation, Ritter signed the bill at an intersection of Interstate 25 in the suburb of Thornton north of Denver.
Business and local government leaders from around the state also took part in the ceremony.
Under the FASTER program, the state will levy $2 per day rental car fees and increase registration fees for vehicles based on weight.
The legislation creates a bridge enterprise fund that will receive the first $100 million in annual revenue. Colorado has 125 bridges identified as structurally deficient. From that, $50 million will be used in the first year of the program to secure revenue bonds, leveraging about $400 million for the most urgent bridge projects.
Supporters in the Democrat-controlled General Assembly say the FASTER plan will create between 10,000 to 30,000 jobs while reducing congestion. With fuel tax stuck at 22 cents per gallon since 1992, Colorado, like other states, needed alternate sources of revenue to deal with growing transportation needs.
"We have to make the tough choices and we have to prioritize," Sen. Brandon Shaffer, D-Longmont, said in a prepared statement. "Change is scary, but we need to restructure our transportation funding in a responsible way. This is a sustainable funding which will support Colorado's needs in the long term."
But Republican lawmakers questioned the wisdom of raising any business costs in a severe recession. The weight-based fees will have a larger impact on freight carriers.
The job creation estimates come on top of the projected 59,000 from the $2 billion federal economic stimulus funds Colorado will receive. Colorado will get $404 million for highway projects and $104 million for mass transit.
In addition to its structurally-deficient bridges Colorado has more designated as functionally-obsolete.
The program establishes a High-Performance Transportation Enterprise to promote new ways of financing transportation projects, including public-private partnerships, operating concession agreements, user fee-based project financing, and design/build contracting.
The law provides $160 million to state and local road-safety projects based on an existing distribution formula of 60% to the state, 22% to counties and 18% to municipalities.
The FASTER program arose from a transportation summit that Ritter created in 2007 to find solutions to the funding problems. A committee report in 2008 recommended the new fees, but also suggested raising the fuel-tax rate.
With state and national elections ahead, the legislature showed no interest in tackling any revenue-raising measures. Ritter, a Democrat, is in his first term as governor, succeeding Republican Bill Owens.
