Gov. Jared Polis’ Colorado Transportation Commission, a group tasked with directing billions of dollars in state transportation funding every year, met last month to decide the fate of $134 million in federal COVID-19 relief funds. In the face of a pandemic, a climate emergency and a brown cloud hanging over the state Capitol, the commission […]
Colorado Department of Transportation
Posted inOpinion, Opinion Columns
Shoshana Lew and Karen Stuart: Transparency in Colorado transportation starts with talking to our neighbors
No one needs to explain our state’s growing transportation needs to Coloradans. They live it every day, whether sitting in traffic during rush hour or on Interstate 70 on a weekend, driving harrowing mountain passes or rural narrow shoulders when passing a slow moving trailer, dodging potholes or awaiting a late bus to work or […]
Posted inClimate, Energy, Environment, News, Politics and Government, Transportation
The road to greenhouse gas cuts: Are Colorado drivers ready?
When Colorado’s greenhouse gas battle comes to her Wheat Ridge driveway, Jan Rose will be ready. Rose believes heart and soul that if the state wants to hit benchmarks of 90% cuts to polluting emissions by 2050, Coloradans will have to drive less, and if they do drive, use a clean electric car. Recent successful […]
Posted inGrowth, Politics and Government, Transportation
Colorado lawmakers considering new fee on gallon of gas to boost money for roads
Year after year, Colorado lawmakers in both parties make finding money for road and transit projects a top priority only to see a big deal get downsized — or more often, collapse entirely. “We are Charlie Brown and we are hoping we are going to get that football,” said state Rep. Matt Gray, a Broomfield […]
Posted inBusiness, Coloradans, COVID, Energy, Environment, Health, News, Politics and Government
Grand Junction keeps its grave for radioactive, Cold War dirt thanks to new coronavirus-aid package
Cold War-era Grand Junction had a widespread benefit from a uranium mill in its backyard: dirt — fine, sand-like, multipurpose dirt. The Climax Uranium Mill along the Colorado River offered an endless supply of the gray dirt that was free for the taking by anyone who needed material to use in sidewalks and roadways, in […]
Posted inBusiness, Climate, Coloradans, Environment, Growth
Mitigation “bank” near Greeley will offset wetland damage, meet Clean Water Act rules
Developers often dropped by unannounced at the Allely farm to ask if the family would consider selling their 70-acre property south of Greeley at the confluence of the Big Thompson and South Platte rivers. The answer was always no — the Allelys did not want their land, which had been in the family since in […]
Posted inEnvironment, News
Colorado’s I-25 project on “The Gap” combined data, thousands of photos and engineering to minimize roadkill
It’s a picturesque and remarkable feat of preservation. Meandering plains, mountains and meadows reflect a decades-long effort to link massive, contiguous public and private parcels along a miles-wide corridor that runs roughly from Monument Hill north to Lone Tree. It features land wrapped in expansive conservation easements, protected habitat and, to the west, Pike National […]
Posted inBusiness, Coloradans, Growth, News, Transportation
Durango’s ridiculed Bridge to Nowhere suddenly has clear road ahead
A decade ago, it was snickered at as “the Bridge to Nowhere.” It was a concrete overpass curling over a highway in a then mostly undeveloped section of Durango. The span had a cow pasture on one side and dead-ended in a scrubby hillside on the other. It truly did not go anywhere. Now, that […]
Posted inColoradans, Crime and Courts, News, Outdoors
Colorado’s first-ever criminal charges following an avalanche could be slippery slope for backcountry travelers
The two snowboarders talk about snow conditions and route selection as they drop in, one at a time. Gusting wind is blowing snow across the ridge as they wind between reefy rocks. “Avalanche!” yells Tyler DeWitt as he cranks to a stop below his friend Evan Hannibal. The two watch the slide — captured on […]
Posted inEnergy, Environment, Health, Politics and Government, Transportation
Is Colorado leading or lagging on climate policy? It depends on which states you’re comparing us to.
States from coast to coast – faced with President Donald Trump’s insistence that climate change is “a hoax” – are taking the lead in creating climate policy and programs, and in this multifaceted exercise Colorado is either a leader or a laggard. On the one hand, the state has adopted some of the most ambitious […]