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Aurora committee advances CDOT fuel-impact grant intergovernmental agreement to study session
Summary
City staff outlined an agreement with the Colorado Department of Transportation for a Fuel Impact Reduction Grant that would yield $2 million annually to Aurora over five years; the committee supported moving the intergovernmental agreement to the next study session for further review.
City transportation staff told the Transportation Committee on July 17 that an intergovernmental agreement (IGA) with the Colorado Department of Transportation would allow Aurora to receive a portion of statewide Fuel Impact Reduction Grant funds to address transportation improvements near the Chambers and Smith gas facility.
Kathy Valencia, transportation project delivery manager for the City of Aurora, said the state-administered program distributes $10 million annually through an enterprise created for the program and that Aurora receives 20% of that revenue within the eligible area. "Aurora will receive $2,000,000 per year over 5 years for a total of $10,000,000," Valencia said. She described eligible corridors around the Smith and Chambers location as including Smith Road, Tower Road, Airport Boulevard and Chambers Road and said CDOT must approve projects once the city proposes them.
The nut graf: Staff requested committee support to move a resolution authorizing an IGA with CDOT for the Fuel Impact Reduction Grant Program to the next available study session so the city can pursue construction or pre-construction work tied to the grant funding.
Valencia said potential uses of the funding would include transportation infrastructure improvements and that ongoing corridor studies (including a Smith Corridor study and an RTD-managed study of a possible grade separation at Chambers) may identify specific construction items. Examples provided were signal timing or left-turn phase changes, curb radius adjustments, minor interchange changes and other transportation mitigations identified through CDOT review. Valencia said the city does not yet have construction funding for the Smith Corridor study recommendations but that some funding from the grant could be used for those improvements.
Committee discussion was brief. Council member Lawson said she had no questions and "I approve it moving forward to study session," after which the chair said, "It's so moved. We will move forward to the next study session." The committee did not record a roll-call vote in the transcript; the resolution was advanced to the study-session calendar.
Ending: Staff and the committee agreed to bring the IGA forward to the next study session for further consideration; Valencia noted funds must be prioritized or encumbered by January 2030 per the program rules discussed in the meeting.
