Chris Dillmann/Vail Daily
In a transportation vision plan unveiled Tuesday, Gov. Jared Polis said by 2035, he wants to significantly cut down the amount of individual car trips Coloradans take.
“Too many Coloradans simply don’t have a safe, convenient alternative to driving for daily tasks, whether it’s getting to work or in the grocery store,” he said from an RTD stop in Denver.
Right now, about 9.6% of Coloradans’ daily trips are accomplished with something other than an individual car, including trains, buses, walking and biking, according to the governor’s office. The goal is that over the next decade, that share will increase to 19.2%.
Polis’ office wants to accomplish that by:
- Adding more than 3,500 miles of bike routes
- Building more than 1,300 miles of new sidewalks
- Ensuring that at least half of the new housing developments are in transit-oriented communities
The boost in bike routes would represent some of the most significant changes to the state’s current infrastructure, increasing current bike routes by about 80%. The added sidewalks would be only about a 3% increase statewide.
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Polis’ team also wants to increase carpooling and services that offer bike and scooter sharing.
The vision plan comes as Colorado political leaders strive to make the state more affordable, easier to navigate and more climate-friendly. Polis said transportation is the key to addressing those issues.
Democrats from the state legislature, including Sen. Faith Winter of Westminster and Rep. Meg Froelich of Englewood, stood with the governor Tuesday.
“We’re not going to achieve our affordable housing goals without this vision,” Winter said. “We’ve done a lot of work to ensure transit-oriented communities, but the first word is transit, and we need transit to have transit-oriented communities.”
The plan will be carried out through several bills over the next several legislative sessions, Winter said. It is likely to be funded through several methods, including bills already passed by the legislature.
Senate Bill 230, signed into law earlier this year, imposes a new fee on oil and gas produced in Colorado, generating an estimated $138 million a year. About 80% of that revenue must go to transit projects.
Senate Bill 21-260 imposed multiple fees, including on gasoline and diesel fuel, retail deliveries, rideshare services and rental cars.
Polis emphasized that the vision would impact the entire state.
