Colorado gets $7.2 billion from infrastructure law | Governor

The bipartisan infrastructure legislation, also known as the Infrastructure Investments and Jobs Act, has awarded more than $7.2 billion to the state of Colorado, and Colorado’s elected officials celebrated those achievements today.

Funding for the federal law expires in 2026 unless Congress reauthorizes it. The law invested in land transportation, drinking water, sewage infrastructure, ports and waterways, airports, and passenger and freight railroads.

However, the future of the infrastructure and deflation laws could look very different by 2025 under the next presidential administration.

Gov. Jared Polis said in a statement Friday that the Infrastructure Act funded 1,000 projects that could create more than 40,000 jobs in Colorado for projects in transportation, clean energy, clean water, climate resilience and broadband.

Combined with funding from the Inflation Reduction Act, the state raised nearly $8.6 billion. The biggest chunk, about $2.6 billion, went to roads, bridges and “major projects.”

Another $860 million went to clean water, including $250 million for the Arkansas Valley Pipeline, which will provide long-term deferred clean water to 40 communities in the Lower Arkansas Valley. Next Friday is the deadline for submitting applications for funding through the second installment of drought mitigation funding under the Inflation Reduction Act. It’s an important date for the Colorado River Conservancy, which hopes to secure $50 million to complete the financing needed to acquire the Shoshone water rights held by Xcel.

Funding to combat droughts, wildfires and floods, which is part of climate resilience, totaled $753 million.

In the same statement, U.S. Sen. Michael Bennet, R-Denver, said: “After decades of investing everywhere but in the United States, Congress met three years ago to pass the most significant bipartisan investment in our infrastructure since Eisenhower was president. This historic law helps Colorado communities build roads and bridges, expand broadband, and improve sewer infrastructure to keep Coloradans healthy, safe, and connected. There is no state better positioned than Colorado to benefit from these investments and lead the rest of the country into the 21st century.”

U.S. Sen. John Hickenlooper, noting funding for the water line and $100 million in improvements along I-70 in Floyd Hill, said the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act “invested in 21st century infrastructure across Colorado. This is only for the last three years; we’re not done yet.”

With last week’s election results, the future of both acts is uncertain.

On the recent National Conference of State LegislaturesSusan Howard, director of policy and government affairs for the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials, told the audience, “It remains to be seen whether the next infrastructure bill will be with a capital ‘I’ or the surface transportation reauthorization bill.”

President-elect Donald Trump told the Economic Club of New York in September that he would cancel all unspent funds under the Inflation Reduction Act, which Politico said will likely force the Biden administration to withdraw those dollars sooner rather than later. The Biden administration must provide those dollars by Inauguration Day 2025.

While funding for construction projects is likely to remain intact, infrastructure law is also unlikely to remain intact, according to several construction industry experts.

The League of American Bicyclists noted in analysis this week funding”The Trump administration’s bike, pedestrian and transit projects are not in the federal interest. This includes eliminating Vision Zero, which city ​​and county of denver began the elimination of deaths and serious injuries in road accidents. Eliminating Vision Zero was the stated goal Heritage Foundation 2025 project.

But there’s a flip side: Republicans in Congress.”put your own stamp” on both acts, given the billions of dollars that have gone to their states. Analysis conducted Global Infrastructure Investment Association noted that three-quarters of clean energy funding under the Inflation Reduction Act went to Republican districts.

On Friday, the Upper Colorado River Commission announced $7 million from the infrastructure act to the Colorado Water Conservation Board. Funding is for Colorado water users in the upper Colorado River basin who need a discharge metering device.