Governor Polis and CDOT Director Lew Applaud Collaboration to Pull Initiative 175 From the Ballot, Build on Historic Investments in Colorado’s Roads

DENVER - Today, Governor Polis and Colorado Department of Transportation Director Shoshana Lew released the following statements on Restore our Roads, the group behind Initiative 175, announcing that they are pulling the measure in favor of more sustainable funding solutions.

"I am glad to see that through collaboration, state leaders and Restore our Roads were able to come to an agreement that removes Initiative 175 from the ballot and builds on our administration's historic investments in our roads, highways, bridges, and tunnels. Initiative 175 would have been devastating to Colorado's budget and diverted important funding from priorities like K-12 schools and healthcare. I thank Attorney General Phil Weiser, Senator Judy Amabile, Speaker Pro Tempore Andy Bosenecker, campaign proponents, and all who were involved in the effort for coming together in good faith to focus on ideas that will improve our roads and transportation system without jeopardizing other important priorities. Legislation written in collaboration with hundreds of stakeholders that I signed is investing more than $600 million in our roads in FY27 alone, and this agreement builds on that good work," said Governor Polis.

"We thank Representative Boesenecker, Senator Amabile, and Attorney General Weiser for bringing this critical conversation together. It is encouraging to see an agreement to build on the groundbreaking collaboration of the past eight years. We have seen immense progress as a result of past legislative funding accomplishments like SB 21-260 - rural road projects across the state, major transit improvements like mobility hubs on I-25 to serve one of our most popular bus routes as part of broader road capacity improvements, and desperately needed capacity improvements like Floyd Hill on I-70, and we look forward to continuing to build on this progress," said CDOT Executive Director Shoshana Lew.

Under Governor Polis's leadership, the General Assembly has passed major legislation to provide significant ongoing funding for transportation. Laws Governor Polis signed will invest more than $600 million in Fiscal Year 2027 alone into transportation, 54% of which is dedicated to highway improvements. SB21-260 is expected to generate $5 billion over a decade and nearly 75% of that funding is dedicated to roads, bridges, and tunnels. This law has also helped the state make major highway improvements such as Floyd Hill, and pave more than 2,500 miles of rural roads.

CDOT data show that in 2025 50.6% of Colorado interstate pavement was in good condition, up from 42.8% three years ago, and only 1.6% of Interstate pavement was in poor condition, after rising as high as 3.9% in 2020 and 2021. Similar progress is evident for major roads on the National Highway System such as U.S. 6, U.S. 40, and many others. Here, data show pavement in good condition up to 42.5% - its highest level since 2018 - with pavement in poor condition at 2.4%, the lowest level since 2018.

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