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George calls for advanced transportation solutions

Russell George, director of the Colorado Department of Transportation, speaks at the Transportation and New Energy Economy conference Friday at the Hotel Colorado.Photo by Post Independent/Kara K. Pearson

POST INDEPENDENT

Article by Donna Gray

Glenwood Springs, CO Colorado

June 23, 2007

In a world of dwindling oil reserves and growing concern over climate change, new thinking is needed to solve traffic and its attendant pollution problems. That was one of the themes of a transportation conference held Friday at the Hotel Colorado in Glenwood Springs.

Colorado Department of Transportation (CDOT) executive director Russell George called the present time, "a moment of challenge" to find creative solutions to forge a new energy economy less dependent on carbon-emitting cars.

The future for transportation in Colorado, he said, "is more than a highway."

George, who was appointed to head the department by Gov. Bill Ritter this year, spoke of one opportunity that rings true to many who live along Interstate 70's western Colorado corridor.

CDOT is in the process of preparing a programmatic environmental impact statement to evaluate ways of alleviating growing congestion on that roadway.

A coalition of local governments has pushed CDOT to look at alternatives to adding more driving lanes to the highway and creating another bore at the Eisenhower tunnel, including bus and rail transit.

George said he supports those alternate means of travel for the I-70 corridor.

"There's no question in my mind ... (and) it's my belief that CDOT absolutely embraces these multimodal opportunities," George said.

However, CDOT hasn't enough money to fund its highway projects let alone new transit, he added. "It's just the cold hard facts."

Although the funding source is unknown presently, "we have to have an honest-to-God irrevocable start on the transit piece. I don't think we can afford not to."

David Burwell, former CEO of the Rails to Trails Conservancy, said all cities have traffic problems, but not all of them solve the problem in the right way.

"We try to build our way out of it," he said. But building wider or more highways only increases traffic. Some have taken innovative steps to alleviate them.

"When you design your community around cars you get more cars," he said. "When you design your community around people you get more people."

Most local governments rely on federal tax dollars for highway projects, but that money is drying up. "It will be bankrupt next year if nothing happens to refill it, so federal assistance to states will go down rapidly," Burwell added

Although it has not been popular with voters, states and the federal government need to increase gasoline taxes, the backbone of highway funding. They also need to consider collecting tolls to fund highways. Major East Coast highways all have tolls along their lengths, as do highways in Europe, he said.

Further, transportation needs to be part of land-use planning, not an end in itself. "Transportation is essentially about community development," he said, and communities need to be involved in designing their streets and highways.

"Community involvement is the mother's milk of transportation problem solving," he said. "It's not public participation, which is marketing, it's community engagement."

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CDOT director supports mass transit for mountains

By Associated Press

June 23, 2007

GLENWOOD SPRINGS - The new director of the Colorado Department of Transportation says the state can't solve the Interstate 70 mountain problem with pavement.

Russell George, a former House speaker and executive director of the Colorado Division of Wildlife, said an ongoing transportation study to deal with ski and summer vacation traffic must include a rail component.

In the past, CDOT officials have said rail is too expensive, as much as $7 or $8 billion.

"They will likely say (the department) can do highways, but it can do other things, too," he said at a meeting Friday. "Yes, we need to have rail, we need more trails and transit. There's no question in my mind that we want that."

He said that means his department will have to find the money to build a mass transit line while meeting the state's current transportation needs.

Communities along the road have opposed building more lanes, both because of frequent rock slides and snowstorms that would close them, and the noise. At times it is almost impossible for residents of one end of Clear Creek County to get to the other.

In 1973, when the Eisenhower Tunnel opened, traffic was less than 8,000. This year it averages 30,391 daily.

Vail tried imposing slower speed limits to reduce tire noise from the horde of vehicles, as well as installing sound barriers. Some residents installed air conditioning to cut summer noise _ an oddity at 8,000-feet elevation.

George noted his department only has a $1.1 billion budget, and there are an additional $100 billion in near-term needs.

George said construction costs continue to rise, going up 15 to 30 percent annually.

"The general public will have to make the ultimate decision" on how the state's transportation projects are funded, he said. "Transportation is the hardest issue to explain to everyday citizens, too."

Colorado voters rejected funding for even a study of such a system in 2001.

George praised the Roaring Fork Valley for its success with passenger bus service and high-occupancy-vehicle lanes on Colorado Highway 82 between Aspen and its bedroom communities.