Well, this state is definitely NOT being run by conservatives. Most of the highway building/maintenance is paid for by fuel taxes. A good portion of the hike in registration fees was for this fund, maybe just under half. Then, much of THAT was redirected to fund Obamacare, and now they're crying for more money again. Meanwhile, the projects that have been funded have taken up a lot of time and expense, tying up traffic during construction, and when they're all done, have done nothing to improve the traffic situation around here, though contractors, unions and those on the government payroll have made out quite nicely.
I realize a good part of the problem has been the heavy growth from migration to Colorado from other states. For that, I am more and more aligning with former governor Richard Lamm (D), whose sentiment was along the lines of "If you improve roads and build roads, it only encourages more and more people to use them." (This is the same guy who made his name here by successfully getting Coloradans to vote the '76 Winter Olympic games out of the state. Also famous for his "Duty to die" comment.)
"When the rest of the country finds out about Colorado, it will be ruined." Bernis L ("Bernie") Brauer (my mother), ca 1971.
(Insert grouchy old man grumble here.)
Mark in Centennial, CO
On October 2, 2019 at 9:06 PM "Mark Bardenwerper citrogsa@charter.net [diesel_mercedes]" <diesel_mercedes@yahoogroups.com> wrote:
RTD (Regional Transportation District)'s "Light Rail" here serves the Denver Metro Area pretty efficiently. The trains are clean (not smelly); generally a pleasant experience. We can can catch the "E" and "F" lines at the Orchard Station, about 7-minutes walk from our house. It's great for getting to the airport or downtown (where both places are a pain to drive to and Denver's parking rates are punitive). My only complaint is how expensive it is to operate; it's heavily subsidized by car registrations. 15-years ago, a car like my '79 300SD would cost right around $20 a year to register. Today, it's closer to $70.
Highways are the primary expense. I worked for a transit company in Wisconsin, where the issue funding has been a stalemate for years. We finally raised registration fees this year to $103. That's better than raising the gas tax, which only lays the burden on cars that use gas or diesel, not hybrids and electrics. The transit portion of the budget is a tiny slice, which has been chopped repeatedly since the conservatives took over.
-- Mark L. Bardenwerper, Sr. Technology...responsibly, thoughtfully http://citroen.cappyfabrics.com
