Colorado’s rapid population growth is placing significant strain on its transportation infrastructure. From 2016 to 2017, the state’s population increased by 1.4 percent, adding approximately 75,000 new residents annually. This influx is equivalent to adding a city the size of Loveland each year, highlighting the immense pressure on existing systems. In fact, Colorado’s growth rate in 2017 ranked as the eighth highest in the United States. This surge in population, combined with ongoing budget limitations, significantly challenges the state’s ability to maintain and expand its vital transportation network. Addressing these challenges effectively is paramount for Colorado’s continued prosperity and quality of life.
Colorado’s highway infrastructure is not only experiencing severe congestion but is also aging, with many sections over 50 years old and in urgent need of repair and consistent maintenance. The projected population growth indicates that congestion will worsen in the coming decades unless innovative and accelerated approaches to key infrastructure projects are implemented. Recognizing the convergence of aging infrastructure, rapid population expansion, and budgetary constraints, the Colorado Transportation Investment Office (CTIO) emerges as a critical entity. CTIO is specifically designed to explore and cultivate innovative strategies to effectively tackle these complex transportation challenges.
Population Growth Demands Infrastructure Investment in Colorado
The Colorado Transportation Investment Office (CTIO) was established with the primary goal of aggressively pursuing innovative methods to more efficiently finance essential surface transportation infrastructure projects throughout the state. Since its inception as an enterprise, CTIO has demonstrated a strong commitment to innovation, with nine out of ten of its projects incorporating some form of innovative financing techniques. Notably, innovative financing facilitated by CTIO, particularly through the implementation of Express Lanes, has been instrumental in delivering over $3 billion worth of transportation projects within the last five years alone.
CTIO’s contributions extend beyond project delivery. The office has successfully:
- Secured $130 million in crucial federal grant funding, demonstrating its ability to leverage external resources.
- Attracted $125 million in direct private investment, fostering public-private partnerships to enhance project funding.
- Leveraged over $1 billion in bond proceeds and other loan mechanisms, further amplifying its financial capacity to support projects in Colorado’s most congested regions.
The deployment of Express Lanes as a financing instrument has been particularly impactful. Without this innovative approach, the state of Colorado would have faced the daunting task of identifying an additional $1.27 billion in funding simply to deliver the same set of projects. Alternatively, these crucial projects would have suffered significant delays, been substantially reduced in scope, or necessitated the reallocation of funds from other essential projects across the state to bridge the substantial funding gap. In essence, without the strategic use of tolled Express Lanes as a financing tool, the Colorado Department of Transportation (CDOT) and CTIO would have been able to deliver only one, or at most two, projects with a combined value significantly under $1 billion, compared to the nine projects valued at over $3 billion that were actually achieved in five years thanks to CTIO’s innovative financing strategies.
