Colorado lawmakers strike deal on transportation funding

Top Colorado lawmakers say they have struck a deal on transportation funding.

Republican Senate President Kevin Grantham and Democratic House Speaker Crisanta Duran announced the deal on Monday – two days before the 2018 legislative session ends.

They say their compromise would ask Colorado voters in 2019 to borrow $2.34 billion for transportation projects.

Bonds issued to borrow that money would cost the state up to $3.25 billion, including interest, over 20 years. That’s $1.75 billion less than the GOP-led Senate approved in a bill earlier this year.

House Democrats argued that committing that much to transportation bonds would cause cuts to education.

The bulk of the money would be earmarked for state highway projects, with 15 percent going to alternate forms of transportation, such as mass transit.