Colorado DOT Defends Highway Maintenance

Don’t expect Colorado’s Department of Transportation (CDOT) to begin any major highway removal projects in the foreseeable future, writes Nathaniel Minor for Colorado Public Radio. A new state law requires the CDOT to shift funding priority toward projects that would decrease greenhouse gas emissions from the state's transportation systems.

In an interview with Colorado Matters host Ryan Warner, CDOT Executive Director Shoshana Lew said “Highways are incredibly fundamental to what CDOT does,” calling the highway system “the bread and butter that connects a very large state and allows different parts of the state to connect to one another.” Lew added that “CDOT is also committed to broadening travel choices by boosting public transportation service and traffic-calming ‘complete street’ rebuilds to better serve pedestrians, cyclists and transit riders.”

Lew also spoke on the state’s Bustang and Pegasus transit services, which shuttle people to the mountains, the benefits to neighborhoods of removing old viaducts in Denver, and why CDOT is adding toll lanes to some of the state’s roads. Overall, Lew focused on the agency’s goal to “give people as many choices as possible.” 

Addressing criticism that CDOT contracting policies privilege large companies over smaller, local businesses, Lew noted that the scale of some projects makes them unfeasible for smaller companies. “[T]he contractor that's going to have the skill set to do a big project like a rebuild on I-25 is probably not the same one that's going to do a rural guardrail project.”