The Colorado Department of Transportation this month announced $1.7 billion in projects set to deliver the next phase of the department’s Ten Year Plan after the Colorado Transportation Commission adopted a major update to the plan. This funding builds on $2.2 billion in previous Ten Year Plan capital investments, many of which are now complete and well underway. Plans will also now include widening I-25 between Longmont and Berthoud.

CDOT’s Ten Year Plan provides a statewide list of priority transportation projects compiled through the most expansive and inclusive planning and outreach effort ever undertaken. It fixes roads and bridges, making the largest investment in rural roads in modern Colorado history, and advances multimodal investments that expand choice for Coloradans.

The new set of approved projects is made possible by a final year of legislative financing from Senate Bill 17-267 and the first years of sustained, long-term funding from Senate Bill 21-260 combined with above-base federal funds provided by the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA). CDOT also received recent news of its largest ever federal grant, providing $100 million in new federal funding to improve Floyd Hill along the I-70 mountain corridor. This grant leverages newly expanded state dollars from SB 21-260.

Expanding the I25 from two lanes in each direction to three lanes between Highway 66 in Longmont and Highway 56 in Berthoud is a welcomed addition. Regional leaders as well as a bipartisan push advocated for the widening. CDOT studied the potential toll revenue that could be generated on the new managed lanes and determined it would cover the $100 million cost that would pay off the federal loan obtained to complete the project.

“CDOT is proud to take this next step in building Colorado’s infrastructure and improving our transportation system for years to come,” said CDOT Executive Director Shoshana Lew. “Thanks to the investments made possible by the legislature and Governor Polis through SB 260, Colorado now has sustained support to fix and build the infrastructure our growing state needs and leverage newly available federal funding through grants like the $100 million that we recently received for Floyd Hill. Today’s actions also show that we can do all this while taking meaningful action on climate change, improving our air and providing Coloradans more choices.”

I-70 Floyd Hill and the continued expansion of I-25 North — which will complete all I-25 North segments included in the Ten Year Plan — are among the largest projects set to move forward in a list that also continues the successful rural road improvement program.

On the I-70 mountain corridor, projects that are recently completed, ongoing and advancing through the Ten Year Plan include the westbound express lane from the Veterans Memorial Tunnel to Empire, Floyd Hill, improving Vail Pass, adding an auxiliary lane and modernizing the interchange at exit 203 in Summit County from exit 203-205, as well as addressing a decades-long backlog of repairs to the Eisenhower Johnson Memorial Tunnels.  In addition, significant maintenance repairs on I-70 over the past few seasons have included repaving key areas like Genesee and Silverthorne. These deferred investments of well over a billion dollars are major achievements in modernizing the corridor in an environmentally responsible way that reflects the priorities of local partners and “context sensitive solutions”.

The next set of projects also positions CDOT for another record year of construction. CDOT’s current forecast predicts $960 milling in contractor payments, including $110 million through the state’s Bridge and Tunnel Enterprise. Notably, these investments include both the Ten Year Plan strategic capital investments, on top of baseline investments in basic maintenance and infrastructure repairs each year, and together comprise record-sized construction programs