El Paso County likely will contribute $15 million to the widening of Interstate 25 from Monument to Castle Rock, fulfilling the project’s $35 million local fundraising goal.

The 2018 county budget, approved Tuesday, includes $7.5 million for the widening, which is expected to cost about $350 million. The county also resolved to provide another $7.5 million for the project in the future.

Overall funding for the widening of the “I-25 Gap” isn’t set in stone, but state and local officials now have identified all parts of the $350 million price tag. They’re still waiting to hear back on a $65 million grant from the U.S.

Department of Transportation, which is expected to announce winners in the spring. If the project doesn’t receive the federal award, state transportation officials have said they will have to re-evaluate the funding plan for the project.

The Colorado Department of Transportation is proposing adding a pair of toll lanes – similar to the Express Lanes on U.S. 36 from Denver to Boulder – to widen I-25 from two to three lanes in each direction.

County Commissioner Mark Waller, who has led a push for local funding, hailed the allocation as a victory for the county at Tuesday’s meeting. He said the resolution for an additional $7.5 million was a “head nod” that the county was committed to providing $15 million for the project – a sum he’s been pushing for months.

“As a board, we have undoubtedly exercised the leadership this community needs to make sure that highway gets completed,” he told fellow commissioners just before the resolution was passed. “We’ve been the driving force, I believe, to get that done.”

County Chief Financial Officer Nicola Sapp said the mention of $15 million for the project in the resolution is not binding or final because the county would have to allocate the additional $7.5 million through the regular budgeting process. The resolution notes that the outcome of the federal grant application could affect the contributions.

The $7.5 million that the county will put toward the project in 2018 comes from excess government revenues that voters authorized when they approved Ballot Issue 1A in November. Another initiative passed in November allows the Pikes Peak Rural Transportation Authority to allocate $10 million toward the project. Douglas County plans to chip in $10 million.

The state would provide the bulk of the funding, or about $250 million, through the sale of government-owned buildings.

The county’s budget, totaling about $363 million, includes financial boosts for the Sheriff’s Office and other departments. Here are some highlights:

-The Pretrial Services Program budget will increase from about $118,000 this year to about $418,000 next year. The boost aims to lessen overcrowding at the jail by enabling more low-level, nonviolent offenders to be released on personal recognizance bonds, or written promises to appear. Pretrial Services helps 4th Judicial District judges decide who might be eligible for PR bonds. The county’s program has been historically underfunded and understaffed compared to similar programs around the state.

-The Sheriff’s Office will receive $100,000 for marijuana enforcement. Sheriff Bill Elder has said that there are more than 550 marijuana grow operations that either are out of compliance or will be out of compliance when a change in state law takes effect Jan. 1. The money is intended to bust more of these “illegal grows.”

-The health department will get $25,000 to combat the spread of communicable diseases. Commissioner Longinos Gonzalez Jr. asked that a line item be put in the budget last week after the El Paso County Board of Health shut down a non-profit’s proposal to establish a local needle exchange.