Centennial State News

Republican gubernatorial nominee Heidi Ganahl will outline her plan to fix Colorado's roads on Thursday, her campaign announced.

Ganahl's opponent, incumbent Democrat Gov. Jared Polis, enacted a $5.4 billion infrastructure bill, but according to Ganahl, much of that money is being diverted to other projects.

"On Thursday, Sept. 15, the Colorado Transportation Commission will vote on an updated version of Jared Polis' failed 10-year transportation plan," the campaign said in a news release. "While these Polis appointed bureaucrats double down on a failed policy that has made our roads worse, Republican gubernatorial nominee Heidi Ganahl will lay out her $10 billion investment in roads that will actually get Coloradans to and from work safely and efficiently."

Polis enacted SB21-260, a $5.4 billion infrastructure bill that he said would "fix the d*mn roads," but according to Ganahl, only about one-third of that money is actually going toward roads and bridges, while the rest is being put toward "Polis’ pet energy projects," according to a release from Ganahl's campaign. The Colorado Transportation Commission is scheduled to vote on an updated version of Polis' 10-year infrastructure plan on Thursday. On that same day, Ganahl will hold a press conference at 10 a.m. to outline her plan to improve transportation across the state.

Ganahl's plan targets the roads that are in the worst condition and also aims to relieve traffic congestion by expanding roads, which would in turn benefit the environment, as Coloradans would  spend less time sitting in traffic, according to the release. Several key supporters of Ganahl's plan will speak at the press conference, including Pam Hutton, the first female chief engineer of CDOT; Johnny Olson, the former deputy executive director and Region Four (NE Colorado) director; Colorado State Sen. Ray Scott, Senate Transportation & Energy Committee member; and Colorado Springs Mayor John Suthers, "who has yet to see the money to fix his city’s roads  promised by Jared Polis three years ago," according to the release.

A report from MoneyGeek last updated in August ranks Colorado's roads at the 14th-worst in the nation, with 18% of the state's roads in "poor" condition, and just 41% in "good" condition. The analysis did not find a correlation between state spending and road condition and notes that tax-friendly states do not have worse roads than states with higher taxes.

The American Transportation Research Institute (ATRI) analyzes GPS data from more than 1 million freight trucks across the U.S. to identify areas of traffic congestion and bottlenecks. ATRI’s 2022 report found that Colorado is home to three of the nation’s worst 100 traffic bottlenecks. In Denver, I-70 at I-25 is the 22nd worst bottleneck in the U.S., with truck drivers going an average of 39.9 mph. I-70 at I-270 in Denver is the 40th worst bottleneck, with truck drivers averaging 44 mph. I-25 at I-76 in Denver is the 58th worst bottleneck, with truck drivers averaging 48.6 mph.

Polis' SB21-260 has added new fees for Colorado drivers, including a 27 cent tax on deliveries, a 30 cent ride-sharing tax and an inflation-adjusted increase on rental car fees, according to ThePolisTax.

Ganahl defeated Greg Lopez in the Republican primary in June and will face off against Polis (D) in the November general election, according to Ballotpedia.