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In Colorado like other western states, our transportation system allows us to live long distances from where we work. Tourism is vital to the Colorado economy and our transportation system brings tourists to cities and towns, large and small all over our state. We need safe roads and bridges to support our economy and our quality of life. Investments in the transportation infrastructure of Colorado are essential to support growth and economic development. When the I35 bridge collapsed in Minneapolis, Minnesota, our nation got a wake up call to focus our attention on the deteriorating transportation infrastructure in the US. In Colorado, we need to fight for more federal dollars for transportation maintenance and improvements. Likewise, we need to invest more state dollars in our transportation systems. In Colorado, from my perspective, we are in a pattern of developing or expanding our transportation infrastructure to meet today's demand. The moment a transportation project is completed, it is not a surprise to discover that project did not create enough capacity. We need to build for the capacity demands of tomorrow. We need to be more forward thinking in our planning. We need to build and execute a 30 year transportation infrastructure plan. Too many of our tax dollars go to rework projects because we do not align projects with our long-term master plan. We need to be asking our selves, "Where will we be in a post oil world?" Colorado has the skills and leadership to be the leader in next generation transportation systems. I will support programs to support research and development of new, environmentally friendly, transportation methods. Many people in Colorado especially the people of Senate District 4 live and/or work in remote areas in out state. We need to have rapid, dependable transportation into urban areas and airports. In terms of nearer term improvements, I will support increased funding to transportation improvements including joining Denver to other points through inter-city rail systems. Investments in inter-city rail to connect the Denver and the Denver International Airport (DIA) to Colorado Springs and Pueblo, to Ft. Collins and Boulder, and to the mountain ski areas will stimulate tourism and other economic activities, reduce congestion on roads and highways which in turn improves the quality of life for our citizens, and generates quality jobs for Coloradan workers. I will support investing state dollars in inter-city rail and maximizing the federal dollars secured for the project. I will make it one of my goals to connect DIA to the Colorado Springs Airport within five years. DIA is an international hub for transportation. With the right investments, DIA will become the global hub for US businesses. We need to be ready to seize the opportunity by having the infrastructure ready to go. Please click the link below to share your thoughts about this issue. Click here to send comments about issue - Transportation. |
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