"I-25 widening plan one step closer," The Gazette
October 17, 2011 5:11 PM
DEBBIE KELLEY
A plan to expand Interstate 25 north to Interquest Parkway moved another step forward Monday when regional transportation officials agreed to accept an offer from the Colorado Department of Transportation to pay for the bulk of the project.
If the state Transportation Commission approves the proposal on Thursday, construction could start next spring.
Pikes Peak Area Council of Governments’ board members said they’re willing to take $31 million from CDOT and kick in $5 million for the $36 million project, which would add one northbound and one southbound lane from Woodmen Road to Interquest.
The metropolitan planning organization is made up of 16 area towns, cities and counties and works with CDOT on transportation projects.
Some said they were dismayed, though, that the offer carries a required local contribution.
The widening proejct has been ready to go for years, awaiting funding. It’s one-fifth of a larger, long-anticipated widening of I-25 north.
“I don’t think this is going to solve the problem. But if this is the best we can do now and will move us forward, it’s the best compromise we have on the table,” said Ramah Mayor Pro Tem Keith McCafferty.
Having to pitch in local money will take away from other future road projects, said board chairwoman Sallie Clark.
“We’re happy, but not quite as happy as we could be,” said Clark, an El Paso County commissioner. “We do not view this as a precedent-setter.”
Craig Casper, transportation director for the Pikes Peak Area Council of Governments, advised the board to “take the money and run.”
Transportation officials initially thought the Pikes Peak region would be shortchanged in receiving a fair share of the so-called state overage funds because of the region’s recent history of transportation allocations.
“We have 14 to 15 percent of the state’s population but have only been getting 4 to 5 percent of the transportation money,” Casper said.
But PPACG staff and board members have frequently complained, and Casper said their repeated frustration “got traction at the state Capitol,” which resulted in the I-25 widening offer. The state’s Transportation Advisory Committee approved the plan Friday.
The state is receiving an unexpected $229 million for road work from various government sources as a result of unbudgeted money and savings on projects.
For the past three weeks, the 11-member Colorado Transportation Commission and its advisory committee have been debating how to spend it, under four scenarios.
Each scenario includes $60 million for building two new tunnels on Interstate 70, west of Denver.
Widening I-25 north of Colorado Springs should be a priority for the state, Colorado Springs Mayor Steve Bach said.
“We view it as critical,” he told the board Monday.
Casper said the I-25 north corridor handles one-quarter to one-third of all vehicle miles traveled in the region.
“It’s congested six days a week,” he said. “Getting us widened to Interquest gets us to other choices, like going east. It’s a really good spot to terminate the project at this point.”
Plans from 1999, which became part of a voter-approved strategic corridor construction initiative, have called for I-25 to be widened north to the Douglas County line.