About the campaign

Help Us Fix U.S. 36 is a grassroots political campaign to advocate for increased funding for U.S. 36.  These funds will help build innovative transportation improvements that will enhance mobility and safety while preserving the unique beauty of the U.S. 36 region for years to come. 

The Problem:  U.S. 36 between Denver and Boulder is an aging highway.  Built in 1951 as a toll road, few improvements have been made to the corridor since its original construction despite enormous population and economic growth the past five decades. Traffic congestion is increasing. U.S. 36 commuters experience 3-4 hours of severe congestion every day. Demand for transit is unmet. 13,000 commuters use transit along U.S. 36 every day, but more commuters want to ride the bus. U.S. 36 is aging. Sections of U.S. 36 are more than 50 years old. One-third of the asphalt has less than 5 years of service life remaining. Our bridges are crumbling. 10 bridges along U.S. 36 are rated “Functionally Obsolete” or “Structurally Deficient.” It’s getting worse. By the year 2035, population along U.S. 36 is expected to rise 28% and employment will expand 53%.

The Solution:  Transportation planners have finished a six-year, $25 million environmental study of proposed transportation improvements for the 18-mile-long U.S. 36 corridor, and it recommends a multi-modal solution that includes Bus Rapid Transit, HOV/HOT lane, a corridor wide commuter bikeway,  highway expansion and bridge reconstruction.  The total cost of these critical improvements, called the Preferred Alternative,  is $1.3 billion.  CDOT expects to have $711 million of that total over time, but most will not be available until 2021, if at all.  Click here for more information about the U.S. 36 Preferred Alternative.  

The Opportunity:  On September 15, 2009, the Colorado Department of Transportation (CDOT) submitted an application on behalf of the U.S. 36 corridor to receive funds available through the United States Department of Transportation’s Transportation Investment Generating Economic Recovery (TIGER) Discretionary Grant Program. 

The application requests $100-$200 million to help build build multi-modal transportation improvements along U.S. 36, including Bus Rapid Transit, HOV/HOT lanes and a commuter bikeway 

This grant opportunity is extremely competitive.  $1.5 billion is available nationally and more than 1,400 applications were submitted requesting a total of $56.6 billion.  Without these funds, meaningful transportation improvements will not take place for many years.    

We need your help.  You can help the U.S. 36 application stand apart from the rest.  Click here to learn how.