Hillman: Why Coloradans can’t have good roads

By Mark Hillman | Commentary, The Gazette

’Tis the season when Colorado highways are teeming with summer travelers, all confronted with the inescapable reality that the state government has absolutely failed in its responsibility to maintain our highways.

Last month, the American Society of Civil Engineers quantified this dismal state of affairs: Barely one-third of our state roads are in “good” condition, far below the national average.

According to the Colorado Department of Transportation’s analysis, 71% of highway miles under state maintenance have less than 10 years of “drivability” remaining, including more than 800 miles where the drivability life is completely exhausted.

Drivers in my home of Kit Carson County know those “exhausted” lanes very well. Interstate 70 just inside the Kansas border is undergoing a slapdash repair of a couple inches of asphalt unfurled like a Band-Aid over a crumbling concrete base — to conceal countless “Polis potholes” long enough for our next governor to inherit the problem.

Meanwhile, two other local thoroughfares, Highways 385 and 24, are literally falling apart under the weight of heavy-duty oversized loads and commercial traffic that prolifically pass through our communities.

READ THE FULL COMMENTARY AT THE GAZETTE

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