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CDOT Has Been Addressing Infrastructure Needs, A Lot Of Funds Needed

By Joel Hillan

DENVER (CBS4) - The director of the Colorado Department of Transportation, Shailen Bhatt, toured cities across the state of Colorado, addressing infrastructure needs.

CDOT says the projects will cost $20 billion over the next 20 years.

Shailen Bhatt
CDOT's Shailen Bhatt (credit: CBS)

Bhatt says that it is time to get real about how we are going to fund the infrastructure projects.

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(credit: CBS)

"I have literally gone around the state the last two days from Pueblo to Grand Junction to Durango to Longmont and everybody's got their project," Bhatt said. "So whether it's $500 million to fix Floyd Hill or a new Pueblo freeway or important projects in Grand Junction or the Denver metro area, there's a huge shortfall and you can't fix a $1 billion (a) year budget shortfall by just moving small numbers around. You've got to go to the people and raise revenue like other states have done."

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CBS4's Joel Hillan (credit: CBS)

Gov. John Hickenlooper may call a special legislative session. If not it could be headed to a ballot initiative this fall.

Joel Hillan is CBS4's Traffic Specialist and is featured on the CBS4 Morning News. Follow Joel on Twitter @joelhillan.

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