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CDOT presents $2.27 billion plan as legislators press for more road resurfacing
Summary
At a Joint Transportation Committee SMART Act hearing, CDOT and the Joint Budget Committee outlined a roughly $2.27 billion budget for CDOT and affiliated enterprises, with lawmakers questioning how much of that goes to pavement, rural roads and maintenance versus enterprise and transit programs.
Colorado Department of Transportation leaders told the Joint Transportation Committee that the combined CDOT and enterprise budget for fiscal year 2027 is about $2.27 billion, and they defended allocations to long‑term projects while answering lawmakers’ questions about road resurfacing and rural priorities.
Senator Bridges told the committee the figure at the start of the day: “the total budget for CDOT is $2,271,000,000.” Joint Budget Committee and CDOT officials emphasized that much of the funding is statutorily directed to enterprises and capital projects, limiting the department’s flexibility. CDOT CFO Jeff Sudmeier said CDOT revenues for FY27 total approximately $1.7 billion and outlined three broad categories: administration (~$48.2 million), special purpose (~$56.6 million) and construction/maintenance/operations (~$1.58 billion). He also described enterprise revenues of about $582 million split among the bridge and tunnel enterprise, the Colorado Transportation Investment Office, the clean transit enterprise and other enterprises.
Why it matters: lawmakers representing rural districts pushed CDOT and JBC officials for concrete numbers about resurfacing and maintenance. Several members said local residents are frustrated by potholes and poor drivability and want to know the “unconstrained” cost to bring roads to a defined standard. CDOT staff said the agency’s pavement program is roughly $230 million annually and has been supplemented by additional funding from the 10‑year plan and occasional federal funds, but rising construction costs have eroded purchasing power.
Committee exchanges: lawmakers asked about staffing and whether pay increases have crowded out resurfacing dollars. Director Shoshana Lew and CFO Sudmeier said most recent hiring was concentrated in maintenance and operations to restore pre‑pandemic staffing and that pay increases were designed to retain a critical workforce. Sudmeier added that many of the newer revenue streams are law‑directed into specific enterprises and are not fungible for pavement projects: “those revenues are very statutorily restricted, to very specific purposes.”
Specific decision items: Sudmeier highlighted CDOT requests to increase the Multimodal Transportation and Mitigation Options Fund (MMOF) appropriation to preserve prior‑year local project apportionments and to restore the marijuana‑impaired‑driving prevention campaign appropriation from $450,000 back to $950,000 so the campaign can resume planned media buys.
What’s next: CDOT told the committee it will provide follow‑up data on pavement allocations, corridor crash data on requested I‑25 segments and lists of projects tied to the vulnerable road user safety set‑aside. The department and legislators agreed to continue the conversation as the 10‑year plan is finalized and as the legislature considers statutory and budget decisions this session.
