Loading...
HomeMy WebLinkAbout851265.tiff wE(D ri r QF COLORADO DEPARTMENT OF HIGHWAYS r` 0201 East Arkansas Ave ; Denver, Colorado 80222 I UUN 141985 (303) 757-9011 I J g FOR MORE INFORMATION: 757-9229REEEEY. c o-24 Highway News (Special Release) June 10, 1985 1985-86 HIGHWAY MAINTENANCE AND OPERATIONS BUDGET, $125 . 3 MILLION Governor Richard D. Lamm, on June 3, 1985, signed the Colorado Department of Highways Maintenance and Operations (M&O) Budget for 1985-86, making official the amounts approved by the Highway Commission on May 16, 1985, for the fiscal year which begins July 1, 1985, totaling $125 . 3 million, an increase of 5 . 4 percent over the $118 . 8 million budgeted for maintenance and operations in the current 1984-85 fiscal year. Construction Budgets for 1985-86, approximately $300 mil- lion, will be adopted by the Highway Commission in future meet- ings and as federal highway aid apportionments are made known, subsequent to July 1, 1985 . In brief, the M&O Budget authorizes $109 . 6 million for maintenance, including $21.4 million for snow and ice control and $88 . 2 million for normal maintenance such as chuck-hole patching, spot overlays, ditch cleaning, clearing of debris from highways, weed mowing, striping, signs, and other traffic control devices . Other major categories in the M&O Budget are $10.4 million for administration, $2. 2 million for central and district office program engineering not charged to projects. and $3 . 1 million for capital outlay. (See Table 1. ) There are 3,034 permanent Department employees authorized for 1985-86 compared with 3 ,027 this year. Of these, 1, 892 . 2 are for M & O and 1, 141. 8 are for projects, service centers, rail and transit programs. (See Table 2. ) The additional employ- ees in maintenance and projects are due to the increased work- load resulting from opening segments of I-76 and C-470 in Den- ver , the increased development activity occurring in the Col- orado Springs area, and improved winter maintenance service at Monument Hill on I-25 and I-70 west of Denver . Employees in administration, central and district program engineering total 223 . 2, a reduction of three from the current year . 851265 1,arc\tq (0•I-14S Accountability of CDOH Present Law 6/10/85 Page 4 highway requests. The preliminary Five-Year Program of Proiects is circulated throughout the state for public comments which are considered prior to its adoption. After adoption, it is a public document. 8. Invitations to bid on highway projects are given pub- lic notice and bids are opened publicly. Contract awards are approved by the State Controller and Attor- ney General. Contracts are public records. 9. Documents on construction projects are available for public examination at the Federal Highway Administra- tion, Colorado Division, where federal funds are in- volved. 10. An annual report of CDOH activities is given to the General Assembly and the general public. 11. Weekly Highway News bulletins "Green Sheets" are cir- culated to the media, to legislators, and others who have requested them. After budget approval a detailed report concerning the budget numbers is given in this bulletin. 12. Monthly reports are given to the State Personnel De- partment on actual numbers of CDOH personnel in com- parison to authorized levels. These are public rec- ords. 13. CDOH purchases are made under general direction of the State Purchasing Division following the state procure- ment code and are public records. 14. Records of use of the State Highway Users Tax Fund (HUTF) are available to the public from the State Treasurer, the Department of Revenue, and the State Controller as well as the CDOH. These indicate total amounts available and distribution of funds. For ex- ample: of $320.7 million estimated in the HUTF in the 1984-85 fiscal year $55.1 million or 17.2% is for other departments; $67.0 million or 20.9% to counties; $36.5 million or 11.4% to cities, and $162.1 million or 50.5% to the Colorado Department of Highways. 15. The Department's entire pre-construction process for highway projects is defined in the "Action Plan." This document describes all approval and deci- sion-making steps and is widely distributed to the public and to state and federal agencies. Accountability of CDOH Present Law 6/10/85 Page 5 16. Detailed environmental documents are produced as part of the decision-making process for all major and in- termediate highway projects Which use federal funds. These documents describe need, costs, funding scenar- ios, and positive and negative impacts. They are made available to the public and are included in Colorado Intergovernmental Review System. 17. The Highway Department is actively involved with the regional planning agencies in the seven urbanized areas of the state (Fort Collins, Greeley, Boulder, Denver, Colorado Springs, Pueblo, and Grand Junction) • to develop long range transportation plans. These plans identify where major capital investments appear to be warranted based on a set of land use assump- tions. In addition, this involvement results in the development of operational studies on the major state highways in the area through the local district offices of the Department. Hello