As the state examines how best to allocate transportation funding across Colorado, county-based regional advocacy groups, including southern Colorado’s Action 22, are conducting a transportation survey. KRCC’s Elaina Formby reports.
The rise of hybrid and eco-boost vehicles has led to fewer gas station fill-ups and a marked decrease in gas tax revenue. Action 22 President and CEO Cathy Garcia says this decrease contributes to a growing divide between urban and rural parts of the state.
"In rural Colorado, we lack shoulders," said Garcia. "We lack turn lanes. Most of our roads are two lanes. We do not have an east-west, four-lane highway. I-70 is the only one, and that’s in the northern part of the state. And we do need a four-lane highway in southern Colorado that goes east and west."
The survey asks respondents to rate their county’s roads and the roads they’ve traveled in other parts of the state. It also asks how transportation stacks up in relation to other government priorities.
Garcia expects the survey to help bring to light transportation funding alternatives. A gas tax increase, mileage tax, or income tax are among the possibilities she mentions.
The survey is open until April 15.
