On June 6, Gov. Bill Owens vetoed the two bills that attempted to place restrictions on private developers of toll roads. The bills, supported by a coalition of citizen groups opposed to the Front Range Toll Road, required builders to comply with federal highway regulations and prohibited private corporations from exercising the right of eminent domain.Owens stated that repealing the right of private corporations to condemn property for the building of roads “make prohibitive the investment of private dollars in our public infrastructure.” The governor’s veto message stated that funding for the Colorado Department of Transportation (CDOT) for 2006 is expected to be more than 40 percent below 2002-2003 expenditures. “Private toll roads are one of the tools that can be used to expand Colorado’s transportation infrastructure at a time when state funding for transportation is shrinking,” Owens said.Local toll road opponents, headed by the Eastern Plains Citizen Coalition (EPCC), were shocked by the veto of H.B. 1342, which would require corporations to notify citizens of their intent to build a toll road and to comply with all CDOT environmental standards. Owens believes the environmental requirements create an unnecessary state-level process. “One-half of the legislators in El Paso County voted against this bill,” said Marsha Looper, co-chair of the EPCC. “We are urging all citizens to ask these legislators why they didn’t support 1342.”The EPCC is spearheading an effort to unite the various anti-toll road groups on the Front Range to oppose the right of corporations to invoke eminent domain. “It’s unfair, unconstitutional and un-American,” said Looper. “The governor has a fight on his hands with the property owners of Colorado.”State senator Tom Wiens (R-Castle Rock), sponsor of S.B. 230, plans to reintroduce the bill in the next legislative session beginning in January 2006. In the meantime, members of the EPCC are visiting other opposition groups around the state and monitoring the state Transportation Legislative Review sessions.Herman Stockinger, legislative liaison for CDOT, supports stricter state oversight of private road developers. “There really isn’t a lot of regulation a private toll road would have to go through,” said Stockinger. “There should be local approval, and private companies should be required to go through the city and county land use process.” Private toll roads are required to go through the CDOT 1601 interchange approval process when the road crosses a state highway.A January 2005 study conducted by Wilbur Smith Associates for CDOT’s Colorado Tolling Enterprise concluded the Front Range Toll Road was not a financially feasible project under CDOT standards. The study evaluated daily car and truck traffic, projected population growth, capital and operations and maintenance costs and other financial factors.Another project examined by the study was the Banning-Lewis Parkway Toll Road, a proposed four-lane road running from I-25 at Northgate to I-25 at Fontaine Boulevard. This project was also deemed financially unfeasible. A private corporation called Springs Toll Road, Inc. has been registered with the Colorado Secretary of State and has proposed the 42-mile route shown in the accompanying map. The articles of incorporation state that the proposed route will pass through the property of approximately 15 owners, including three governmental entities.
