Colorado falls to 43rd in national highway ranking – The Durango Herald

Transportation leaders have complained for years that the states highway system is woefully underfunded

Traffic on South Camino del Rio at 5 p.m. April 20, 2018, in Durango. The Colorado Department of Transportation hopes to eventually expand U.S. Highway 160 from Durango to Bayfield as well as U.S. Highway 550 from Durango to the New Mexico line. (Jerry McBride/Durango Herald file)

Colorado does not fare well in the Reason Foundations most recent ranking of each states highway system.

The libertarian think tank measures cost-effectiveness, pavement conditions, safety record and other metrics. Colorado fell from 37th to 43rd overall in this years report.

Colorado ranks 47th for rural interstate pavement condition and 40th in urban interstate pavement condition. Its rankings for pavement conditions on rural and urban arterial roads is better, but still middling: 26th and 31st, respectively. Its fatality rates and traffic congestion rates are in the 20s and 30s.

Theres nothing Colorado does extremely well, said Baruch Feigenbaum, Reasons senior managing director of transportation policy.

Colorados transportation leaders complained for years that the states highway system was woefully underfunded. In 2021, the Colorado Legislature approved a massive bill that will raise billions of dollars for transportation in the state.

Thanks to this sustained state funding in infrastructure, we are addressing critical stretches of interstate that need upgrades this year, with more to come in the next several construction seasons, Colorado Department of Transportation spokesman Matt Inzeo wrote in an email.

That new money and the projects it funds arent reflected in this report, which relies on data from 2020. That was the most recent data available, Feigenbaum said.

If theyre doing what they say theyre doing and spending those resources on pavement quality, I would expect that in future reports were going to see some better numbers, he said.

But the report also faults Colorado for the relatively high amount of money it spends on maintenance when compared to the number of lane-miles addressed, suggesting it should be getting more for its money.

Theres a lot of room for improvement, Feigenbaum said.

Colorados topography and climate both contribute to significant maintenance needs, Inzeo said. The agency, for example, will spend an extra $45 million this year on snow removal and road repairs after a particularly brutal winter. (And, Inzeo added, another big storm is coming later this week.)

CDOT's mission is to operate the state's transportation system to ensure every traveler can get where they are going safely, and we will maintain our system to meet that mission, he wrote in an email.

To read more stories from Colorado Public Radio, visit http://www.cpr.org.

See the article here:

Colorado falls to 43rd in national highway ranking - The Durango Herald