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Mar 18, 2008 8:39 pm US/Mountain
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Republicans Promote $5 Toll For I-70
By Colleen Slevin, AP Writer
Reporting
Paul Day
DENVER (CBS4/AP) ―
Republican leaders are promoting a $5 toll on Interstate 70 to pay for widening the highway.
Senate Minority Leader Andy McElhany and House Minority Leader Mike May said Tuesday they're working on a bill to establish a toll each way between Floyd Hill on the outskirts of the metro area to the Eisenhower Tunnel.
People who live in Summit, Clear Creek and Gilpin counties, which I-70 runs through, would be exempt. The toll would apply to both passenger cars and commercial trucks.
Sponsors estimate the toll would raise about $40 million a year, which could be used to borrow $1 billion to widen I-70 between Floyd Hill and U.S. 40, the exit for Winter Park.
Speaker of the House Andrew Romanoff, a democrat, thinks it's worth considering. In a brief phone interview with CBS4's Paul Day, Romanoff said, "There are still some moving parts here that need to be sorted out." But he said solving transportation problems should not be a partisan issue and he wants to hear from the Colorado Department of Transportation, as well as the affected mountain communities.
May said he thinks having drivers who use the road pay for improvements would be more popular than imposing a tax on everyone. McElhany said he wasn't worried whether the toll would have an impact on the trucking industry.
"I think traffic not moving and a three-hour traffic jam is much worse for business," McElhany said.
Sen. Chris Romer, D-Denver, is also working on a proposal to designate one or all lanes of the highway as toll lanes during peak travel periods to help avoid weekend traffic jams. Cars holding three or more people wouldn't have to pay and trucks would be charged more than cars. The draft bill doesn't specify how much the toll would be.
Both proposals face a steep climb.
Colorado would have to get a federal waiver to establish a toll on an existing roadway. A lawmaker who represents people who live near the highway from the foothills to Summit County is also angry that the backers haven't reached out to mountain communities and others who have been studying what do about the highway.
Sen. Dan Gibbs, D-Silverthorne, said that a coalition is due to release its recommendations in May so it's premature to talk about expanding the highway.
"I think folks are looking for headlines and if they were trying to solve the problem they would be part of the conversation," Gibbs said.
(© 2008 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)