Colorado’s General Assembly will soon vote on whether to bring the New Transportation Infrastructure Funding Revenue bill to the voters in November.
HB 1242 concerns transportation and multimodal funding. The bill would add six cents sales tax for every $10 spent, to total around $700 million in funding. The first $300 million goes to CDOT for repairs to statewide infrastructure. Seventy percent of the remainder ($280 million) goes to local counties and municipalities to maintain and repair local roads and bridges. Thirty percent of the remainder, or $120 million, will go to local communities for multimodal projects.
Nobody loves new taxes, but this is our choice until the state can figure out how to deal with TABOR. Multimodal transportation is very important to rural communities like ours. Multimodal basically just means all modes of transportation besides cars and drivers. It’s not just light rail and bike paths. It’s accommodations for people who don’t have access to vehicles or who don’t want to drive.
While La Plata County suffers a loss of tax revenue, the commissioners will probably not be expanding public transportation to the county without assistance from somewhere. The Senior Centers and SUCAP’s Roadrunner can’t meet the needs of the entire county, where many people are aging, disabled or strapped for transportation cash.
We all benefit when people have access to jobs, shopping, recreation and medical care. Big-city multimodal committees don’t deal with the same problems we do. Kudos to CDOT for beginning work to install and repair curb cuts for wheelchairs and scooters on north Main. The sidewalks, however, are the responsibility of the city and the property owners.
Multimodal funding for ADA-accessible sidewalks on north Main will help Durango residents with disabilities get to jobs and keep appointments, and will also help many other people who do not drive.
Please take some time to talk with people who don’t drive and ask them how multimodal funding could help. Then tell our representatives what you think!
Martha Mason
Durango
Editor’s note: Martha Mason is executive director at the Southwest Center for Independence.
