Tribune Opinion: More needs to be done to address highway maintenance in Northern Colorado

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Increased traffic in Weld County due to a booming oil and gas industry and growing need to agricultural production has been taking its toll on road damage lately. Editors at the Greeley Tribune weighed in on their opinions about what the State needs to do in order to increase funding in a recently published article.

Myron Hora, planning and environmental manager for CDOT Region 4 commented on the deteriorating condition of roads in Northern Colorado: “Our roadways are deteriorating at a faster rate than we had planned due to increased traffic.” This year, CDOT has an annual budget of about $1.1 billion to spend on state highways and interstates, down from $1.6 billion in 2007. Officials for CDOT Region 4 recognize that decreased funding can be an issue and are nervous when it comes to the future of transportation funding for our aging infrastructure. 

Earlier this summer, CDOT began a study to examine the impacts of oil and gas traffic on roads. The study will take 15 months to complete and will help in providing necessary information on funding solutions for fixing Northern Colorado’s damaged roads.

You can read about what the Greeley Tribune Editorial Board had to say here.