On June 15, the Weld County commissioners organized the first Transportation Summit for Northern Colorado in almost a decade. Transportation planning entities from across the state joined with U.S. Sen. Cory Gardner, Colorado Department of Transportation Director Shailen Bhatt and several state and local elected officials from across the state to address the transportation infrastructure funding crisis that has developed in our state over the last decade.

The Summit was organized because we can no longer wait to address the lack of investment in Colorado’s transportation system. According to the Colorado Department of Transportation, North I-25 from Thornton to Fort Collins will see no new capacity improvements until 2070. Colorado’s other interstate highways, I-70 East, I-70 West, I-25 south from Castle Rock to Monument and I-76 from Denver to the Nebraska state line, need of billions of dollars in maintenance and improvements. A recent study ranked Colorado 47th out of 50 states in payment quality. Our state highways, Highway 50 from Pueblo to Lamar, Highway 71 on the eastern plains, Highway 14 from Fort Collins to Sterling, are crumbling and in desperate need of repair and there is no plan by CDOT to address this funding crisis.

So, what can we do to try and address this growing transportation crisis confronting Coloradans?

The Summit first brought all of the entities responsible for maintaining our state’s transportation infrastructure together under one roof to address this challenge – federal, state and local governments. Second, two different funding ideas that could raise billions of dollars immediately to address new capacity and maintenance of Colorado’s current roadways. And finally, a call to action was sounded by the business community and citizens for us to come together and work to address this crisis.

The Summit was the first step in not just talking about the need to do something about improving our state’s highway infrastructure, but bringing forth ideas and developing a plan to implement those ideas.

What do I believe will be the ultimate results of Transportation Summit 2015? It will be remembered for making 2016 the Year of Transportation in Colorado. At the federal level, led by our congressional delegation, we will see a new five-year reauthorization of a new highway bill. It will be the first reauthorization in a decade. At the state level, look for TRANS Bond II – it failed by a single vote in the 2015 session – to be back at the Legislature and approved for the 2016 ballot. And look for serious consideration by the General Assembly to allow for the creation of the Colorado Infrastructure Tax Credit Program, which could bring billions of private equity dollars to Colorado for road and rail projects. All of these items at the summit received wide bipartisan support.

Transportation Summit 2015, sponsored by the Weld County Commissioners, was a huge success. I hope it will lead to a continuation of the dialog on how we address our current transportation funding crisis, and implementation of several ideas brought forward at the summit that will address the crisis.

Sean Conway is a Weld County Commissioner. Prior to his election, he served as U.S. Sen. Wayne Allard’s chief of staff.