On May 29, the El Paso County Board of County Commissioners unanimously voted to approve a list of road projects in the unincorporated areas of the county.The list will appear on the ballot in November, when the Pikes Peak Rural Transportation Authority will ask voters to re-authorize the capital improvement part of the PPRTA.Voters in unincorporated El Paso County, Colorado Springs, Manitou Springs and Green Mountain Falls created the PPRTA in 2004.The PPRTA is funded by a 1 percent sales tax in those jurisdictions. Ten percent of that tax is allocated for bus transit, 35 percent for road maintenance and 55 percent for capital improvement projects.Forty-five percent of the PPRTA sales tax is permanent, but the 55 percent for capital improvement projects expires in 2014.As in 2004, the 2012 PPRTA ballot language will authorize the capital improvement portion of the sales tax for 10 years and include a list of capital improvement projects divided into Priority A (highest priority) and Priority B (lower priority) projects.Priority A projects must be completed before work can start on Priority B projects, said Andre Brackin, county engineer.Of the $80,155,000 estimated for unincorporated county Priority A projects, the total for the Falcon/Black Forest area is $19,912,000.Of the $78,185,000 estimated for the unincorporated county Priority B projects, the total for the Falcon/Black Forest area is $47,712,000.ìIt’s highly likely we’ll get to the projects on the B list,î Brackin said.Before the BOCC’s final vote, commissioners negotiated the projects on the list.Commissioner Peggy Littleton wanted the county to include trail projects on the list of road projects.ìThe city (Colorado Springs) has some trail improvements in their list,î she said.Littleton championed an option where $106,000 would be taken from an $18,314,000 project (to improve Highway 105 between Interstate 25 and Highway 83) and used to fund a matching grant program for trail projects.Under the grant program, the PPRTA would provide 20 percent of the funding for a trail project and 80 percent would be matched by partners such as the Trails and Open Space Coalition.ìTrails should connect. PPRTA can play a role in making trails connect,î said Bill Kerner, TOS coalition member. ìA lot of people use trails to get to work. Children need safe ways to get to school. We should provide a safer alternative than riding next to moving traffic.îRichard Williams, member of the Highway Advisory Council, disagreed, adding that 90 percent of trail use is recreational.Dan Stuart, chairman of the Greater Colorado Springs Chamber of Commerce, supported the matching grant option.ìThe county’s list of trails and improvements when combined with the city’s list provide faster and safer ways to get around the community. Matching funds help build community as well,î Stuart said.Commissioners Dennis Hisey, Sallie Clark and Amy Lathen resisted Littletonís idea.ìWhat will happen if no partners materialize?î Hisey asked.ìI’m concerned about eroding what most folks think of as transportation,î Clark said.Lathen said she was against changing the PPRTA’s model of fully funding road projects that have been approved by voters. ìMy constituency’s No. 1 concern is roads and bridges,î she said.After voting down the matching grant option, the commissioners reached a compromise of sorts.The scope of a project to improve South Academy Boulevard was expanded to spend $85,000 on a trailhead and connections, without increasing the $18 million cost of the South Academy Boulevard project.ìIt’s the No. 1 trail project identified by our parks department,î Brackin said.Lathen said the PPRTA has almost doubled county funding for road construction and maintenance, adding $7 million annually to the $7.5 million the county receives from the road and bridge mill levy on real property.ìWe’re talking about very difficult economic times in this region, a potential extension of a tax and whether it will even pass,î Lathen said.ìThe PPRTA is a critical component of infrastructure funding, but it’s just one small piece of the need that’s still there,î Stuart said.Even if voters extend the capital improvements part of the PPRTA in November, Stuart said it will only cover 20 percent of what needs to be spent on transportation infrastructure, leaving an 80 percent shortfall.
