Colorado U.S. Senator Michael Bennet today kicked off his statewide Infrastructure Colorado: Planes, Trains, Automobiles, and More tour at the newly re-opened Denver Union Station, where he held a mobile town hall on the W line to Federal Center in Lakewood. Bennet is using the tour to highlight Colorado infrastructure projects and call attention to the critical consequences of Congressional failure to develop a long-term solution to our infrastructure needs, threatening our economy, competiveness, and safety.
Bennet was joined by Lakewood Mayor Bob Murphy, RTD General Manager Phil Washington, Tom Clark, CEO of Metro Denver Economic Development Corporation, and Jim Lochhead, CEO and Manager of Denver Water, for the mobile town hall, where they discussed how the light rail is leading to economic development and greater connectivity throughout the Denver metro area. Golden Mayor Marjorie Sloan and Lone Tree Mayor Jim Gunning also joined the town hall, in addition to representatives from Terumo BCT and Colorado School of Mines.
“Despite dwindling resources for infrastructure projects, Colorado has found innovative and collaborative ways to finance critical, forward-thinking projects like FasTracks,” Bennet said. “Unfortunately in Washington – a place I call the ‘Land of Flickering Lights’ – we can’t seem to find the decency to maintain these assets that were built for us, let alone build a better future for the next generation. We have to do better to build and maintain the roads, bridges, utility grids, and water and sewer projects we need to strengthen our economy and keep us safe.”
Last week, Congress passed another short-term fix – this time for the Highway Trust Fund – which jeopardizes vital, large-scale infrastructure projects and leaves state and federal transportation departments unable to plan for the long-term.
Despite Colorado’s successes, there is still work to do. Seventy percent of the state’s roads are rated poor or mediocre according to the American Society of Civil Engineers’ 2013 Infrastructure Report Card. Without a predicable federal highway plan, maintenance and upgrades of these roads will be jeopardized.
Bennet has fought to strengthen the nation’s infrastructure. Earlier this year, he sponsored the Partnership to Build America Act, with Republican Senator Roy Blunt from Missouri. The Bennet-Blunt proposal establishes a $50 billion infrastructure fund that can potentially support hundreds of billions in loan guarantees and financing authority for state and local governments. While not a replacement for keeping the Highway Trust Fund solvent, the fund created by the bill would help finance transportation, energy, communications, water, and education infrastructure projects.