In one of the more audacious knocks to regional cooperation, Denver is making a bid for taking $7 million in funding away from transportation projects in Boulder County in order to cover the cost of their $25 million in desired improvements at the intersection of Peoria Street and Smith Road.  Here is the full story, as reported in the Daily Camera:  http://www.dailycamera.com/ci_17406342. 

Denver’s “unprecedented” last-minute bid for funding would upset the scoring system the Denver Regional Council of Governments (DRCOG) uses to appropriate federal transportation dollars.  This scoring system gives fair weight to funding requests from all communities around the region and includes flexibility to address regional equity concerns. 

Most egregiously, Denver specifically targets funds for Boulder County transportation initiatives in order to achieve its project goals.  This includes funding for enhanced Bolt bus service between Boulder, Lyons and Longmont along with support for the Lyons community Eco Pass program, which could be a model for the region.

In my own testimony last week before the DRCOG Board of Directors, which includes representatives from all cities, towns and counties across the metropolitan region, I registered my strong objection to Denver’s proposal.  By way of comparison, I noted that the RTD Board would lose trust with the citizens if we abandoned our criteria for allocating bus service in favor of arbitrary decisions.  I urged the DRCOG Board to keep trust with the citizens by relying on its established criteria in the allocation of federal transportation dollars.

I am hopeful that rational heads will prevail in next month’s final vote by the DRCOG Board.  It appears some are seeking a middle road that could satisfy both Boulder County and Denver funding goals.  In the meantime, you can register your own thoughts on this matter through the DRCOG web site at:  http://www.drcog.org/index.cfm?page=2012-2017TransportationImprovementProgram(TIP)PublicHearing.