I-25 tolling puts elected leaders at odds

Northern Colorado leaders are at odds over a state plan that would add tolls to northern sections of Interstate 25 to help fund a $1 billion widening project between Longmont and Fort Collins.

The state’s plan starts just north of the metro area initially, providing $90 million to fund toll lanes starting at 120th Avenue and running north to Colorado 66.

About $55 million of that total will fund a new fourth lane with a toll between 120th Avenue to Colorado 7.

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The remaining $35 million will be used to place tolls on an existing free third lane from Colorado 7 to Colorado 66.

The funding comes as part of a $1.5 billion statewide transportation plan announced by the state last week.

The toll lane would extend to Fort Collins once a third lane is built between Colorado 66 and Colorado 14. However, the project has drawn opposition from elected officials in Weld County, Firestone and Erie, while Loveland and Fort Collins officials are interested in seeing it move forward.

Weld County officials want to continue discussing how to expand the interstate, said Commissioner Sean Conway. However, communities along the I-25 corridor between Colorado 7 and Colorado 66 will not stand for the conversion of a general purpose lane to a toll lane, he said.

Conway called the plan “destined for failure.”

“No one is objecting to new capacity between 66 and (Fort Collins),” he said. But to “take that lane of general purpose use and make it a toll lane is just unacceptable.”

Firestone Mayor Chad Auer said he was glad that the transportation department had decided to invest additional dollars in the northern section of the interstate, but he said several residents oppose the proposal and “I have a number of concerns about it. It’s not my favorite option.”

Erie Mayor Joe Wilson also opposes the toll lanes, especially next to Erie, because taxpayers in the area already paid to build their third lane. He noted that a high occupancy-vehicle lane was approved for the third lane of the interstate, but it was supposed to remain free.

“Adding tolls to lanes that are already free and already paid for by the citizens and having them pay for them again is just not going to cut it,” he said.

Mayors of Loveland and Fort Collins want plans to improve north I-25 to move forward.

Loveland Mayor Cecil Gutierrez said he wished there were a better solution. But he said that Northern Colorado motorists would have to wait too long if the state relies solely on tax revenue. The state estimates the expansion would not be funded and built until 2075.

“If someone is willing to show me a better solution, I’d love to see it,” he said. “It’s going to take money and they’ve got to figure out how to come up with the money. This is the best way so far that anyone’s come up with.”

Fort Collins Mayor Karen Weitkunat points out that Northern Coloradans helped fund the Transportation Expansion Project in the Denver metropolitan area.

“It’s as much our dollars as the rest of the state’s,” she said. “It can’t be an us and them conversation. It’s got to be a we conversation where we all benefit.”

The $90 million in funding falls far short of the $1 billion project’s cost, so it’s meant to attract contractors to the toll project and the subsequent widening work, said Amy Ford, spokeswoman for the transportation department.
“When you consider the projected growth in the area – Weld County is projected to grow 111 percent and Larimer County by 52 percent by 2040 – along with the limited funding available, we believe that a public-private partnership is key to improving the north I-25 corridor and addressing the transportation needs in the near future,” she said.

Lane design begins immediately and could last until 2015, she said. Construction on the first phase of the project, which consists of the toll lanes between 120th Avenue and Colorado 7, could start that year.

When actual construction starts will depend on findings of revenue and traffic studies and a partnership between the state and private enterprise, she said.