[bouldercouncilhotline] Hotline: Update from the DRCOG MVIC Meeting

[cmosupport at bouldercolorado.gov]

Sender: Jones, Suzanne

Dear Colleagues--

Last week was an important meeting of the DRCOG Metro Vision Issues Committee (MVIC) meeting where we voted on allocation of additional funding for the 2012-2017 Transportation Improvement Program, including for Phase 2 of the US36 corridor. (I acted as the Boulder rep since KC was on vacation.) 

Securing funding for Phase 2 of the US 36 Corridor, which would complete the final phase of US 36 managed lanes from 88th Street to Table Mesa concurrent with Phase 1 of the project from Westminster to 88th Street, was a top priority supported by all of the 36 Mayors and Commissioners and their DRCOG reps. The request was for $15 million from DRCOG which would leverage over $113 million in additional funding (including $15M each from RTD and CDOT, and $1.2M from Boulder County, along with additional federal money and private equity); this $15M of funding for the US 36 Corridor was included in 4 of the 6 options considered, and near full-funding was in a 5th option.  After much discussion Dennis McCloskey (Broomfield, Chair of DRCOG) offered a motion to fund Option 2 ( which is based on funding "under equity" counties, including full funding for the US36 Corridor project), which passed 11-8. The matter will now proceed to the full DRCOG board for consideration in August.

During the discussion it became clear that there was wide support for funding this US36 Corridor project--because it is a priority corridor, a multi-modal project, heavily leverages other funding, and because this corridor has gotten such short-shrift under FasTracks (a refreshing situation to have something that benefits Boulder be so widely supported!). As such, Cindy Dominico and I didn't need to say much, other than to thank folks for their support.  There was, however, a very robust discussion about why the big Douglas County lane-widening project should not similarly be funded (even though this is a more conventional auto-based project), and I think we can expect a renewed push at the full DRCOG meeting to fund the Douglas County project as well as the US 36 project. 

Cheers,
Suzanne