FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Wednesday, January 22, 2025
Contact:
Rocky Moretti (202) 262-0714
Carolyn Bonifas Kelly (703) 801-9212
Click here for the full report, news conference recording, infographics and video interview footage with report authors.
GRAND JUNCTION AREA MOTORISTS LOSE MORE THAN $1,700 PER YEAR DRIVING ON ROADS THAT ARE ROUGH, CONGESTED & LACK SOME DESIRABLE SAFETY FEATURES – $11.4 BILLION STATEWIDE
Grand Junction, CO – Roads and bridges that are deteriorated, congested or lack some desirable safety features cost Colorado motorists a total of $11.4 billion statewide annually – $1,704 per driver in the Denver urban area – due to higher vehicle operating costs, traffic crashes and congestion-related delays. A lack of adequate investment in transportation and increasing inflation in construction costs could hamper Colorado’s ability to make needed improvements to its transportation network, according to a new report released today by TRIP, a Washington, DC based national transportation research nonprofit.
The TRIP report, “Keeping Colorado Mobile: Meeting the State’s Need for Safe, Smooth and Efficient Mobility,” finds that throughout Colorado, nearly a quarter of major locally and state-maintained roads are in poor condition, five percent of locally and state-maintained bridges (20 feet or more in length) are rated poor/structurally deficient, traffic congestion is choking commuting and commerce, and the state’s traffic fatality rate has increased significantly since 2019. Despite recent increases in state and federal transportation funding, CDOT projects a $350 million per year shortfall in funding needed to maintain and enhance the system.
The TRIP report includes statewide and regional pavement and bridge conditions, congestion data, highway safety data, and cost breakdowns for the Colorado Springs, Denver, Grand Junction, Northern Colorado and Pueblo urban areas.
Grand Junction area drivers lose $1,704 per year in the form of extra vehicle operating costs (VOC) as a result of driving on roads in need of repair, lost time and fuel due to congestion-related delays, and the costs of traffic crashes in which the lack of adequate roadway safety features, while not the primary factor, likely were a contributing factor. A breakdown of the costs per motorist in the state’s largest urban areas, along with a statewide total, is below.
The TRIP report finds that 27 percent of major locally and state-maintained roads in the Grand Junction urban area are in poor condition, costing the average motorist an additional $787 each year in extra vehicle operating costs, including accelerated vehicle depreciation, additional repair costs, and increased fuel consumption and tire wear. Statewide, 24 percent of Colorado’s major roads are in poor condition.
In the Grand Junction urban area, two percent of bridges are rated poor/structurally deficient, with significant deterioration to the bridge deck, supports or other major components. Statewide, five percent of Colorado’s bridges are rated poor/structurally deficient.
Traffic congestion in the Grand Junction urban area causes 13 annual hours of delay for the average motorist and costs the average driver $326 annually in lost time and wasted fuel. Grand Junction drivers waste an average of four gallons of fuel per motorist annually due to congestion. Statewide, drivers lose $4.8 billion annually as a result of lost time and wasted fuel due to traffic congestion. Due to the Covid-19 pandemic, vehicle travel in Colorado dropped by as much as 42 percent in April 2020 (as compared to vehicle travel during the same month the previous year). By 2024, vehicle miles of travel in Colorado had rebounded to one percent above 2019’s pre-pandemic levels.
Traffic crashes in Colorado claimed the lives of 3,394 people between 2019 and 2023. In the Grand Junction urban area, on average, 18 people were killed in traffic crashes each year from 2018 to 2022. The financial impact of traffic crashes in which the lack of adequate roadway safety features, while not the primary factor, were likely a contributing factor, was an average of $591 annually per each Grand Junction area driver – a total of $2.9 billion statewide. Nationwide, traffic fatalities began to increase dramatically in 2020 even as vehicle travel rates plummeted due to the COVID-19 pandemic, and the number of fatalities continued to increase in 2021. The number of fatalities in Colorado increased 21 percent from 2019 to 2023, from 597 to 720, while state’s fatality rate per 100 million vehicle miles of travel increased 19 percent between 2019 and 2023, from 1.09 to 1.3.
Improvements to Colorado’s roads, highways and bridges are funded by local, state and federal governments. State funding for transportation increased in 2021 when Colorado’s legislature approved SB 260, which is projected to provide approximately $5.3 billion in transportation infrastructure investment over ten years. Despite recent increases in state transportation funding, CDOT estimates show a shortfall of $350 million per year in funding needed to maintain and enhance the system, with needed improvements to pavements and maintenance of the system making up $284 million of the total shortfall.
In addition to state transportation funding, the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA), signed into law on November 2021, will provide $3.7 billion in federal funds to the state for highway and bridge investments in Colorado over five years, representing a 31 percent increase in annual federal funding for roads and bridges in the state over the previous federal surface transportation program.
“It’s time to get back to basics—simple road repairs and infrastructure improvements that directly impact every Coloradan. The data is clear: current priorities aren’t working, and we can’t afford to keep falling behind on something so vital to our daily lives and our state’s future,” said Mesa County Commissioner Bobbie Daniel. “The strength of our roads is a direct reflection of how government prioritizes and funds infrastructure – even as inflation challenges our resources – and it’s critical that these dollars are spent where they matter most. You can’t have a thriving economy, flourishing small businesses, vibrant agriculture, or robust resident and tourism visits to our public lands without significant investments in roads and bridges. These major arteries are the foundation of economic success for Colorado, directly impacting the efficiency of commerce, the accessibility of the great outdoors, and the vitality of rural and urban communities alike.”
The ability of revenue from Colorado’s motor fuel tax – a critical source of state transportation funds – to keep pace with the state’s future transportation needs is likely to erode as a result of increasing vehicle fuel efficiency, the increasing use of electric vehicles and inflation in highway construction costs. The Federal Highway Administration’s national highway construction cost index, which measures labor and materials cost, increased by 45 percent from the beginning of 2022 through the second quarter of 2024.
The efficiency and condition of Colorado’s transportation system, particularly its highways, is critical to the health of the state’s economy. In 2022 Colorado’s freight system moved 344 million tons of freight, valued at $326 billion. From 2022 to 2050, freight moved annually in Colorado by trucks is expected to increase 63 percent by weight and 104 percent by value (inflation-adjusted dollars). The design, construction and maintenance of transportation infrastructure in Colorado supports approximately 77,000 full-time jobs across all sectors of the state economy. Approximately 1.1 million full-time jobs in Colorado in key industries like tourism, retail sales, agriculture and manufacturing are dependent on the quality, safety and reliability of the state’s transportation infrastructure network.
“Despite increased state and federal transportation funding in recent years, Colorado still faces a significant shortfall in funds needed to improve road and bridge conditions, ease congestion and enhance safety,” said Dave Kearby, TRIP’s executive director. “It will be critical that the state adequately invest in its transportation network in order to provide a system that is smooth, safe and efficient.”