The Colorado Transportation Commission on Thursday gave the green light to $1.6 billion to provide “unique solutions” to common transportation problems, the governor’s office said.

“Colorado must do the most we can with the resources we have, and I am proud to see our transportation department embody those values – both through an extensive outreach process and a detailed plan that reflects the public’s priorities to reduce traffic and fix our roads and bridges,” Gov. Jared Polis said in a statement Thursday afternoon.

He said he was pleased to see the money spread around the state.

“We will all benefit from smart planning and strategic investment to get where we are going quicker,” he stated.

The plan relies on money already expected in the state budget, though Polis talked this week at an issues summit in Loveland about borrowing more money, if Colorado is to tackle major new expansions and projects beyond the existing operations budget.

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He noted that the budget he approved this year and the one he’s proposing for next year relies on one-time money, the sale of certificates of participation approved during the Hickenlooper administration, savings in operations and other windfalls.

“We do the most with what we have every day, but if there’s anything long-term in meeting the transportation needs of the state, there needs to be some bonding and capital mechanism,” Polis told the audience of hundreds assembled by the Northern Colorado Legislative Alliance.

Voters, however, have not been willing to approve any of three measures to put new money into the state’s transportation needs. Under Gov. John Hickenlooper, the Colorado Department of Transportation pegged the state’s needs at $9 billion over the next decade to keep up with growth.

Polis is still studying the issue, with a tilt toward green transportation solutions, including a Front Range rail line, and other multi-modal ideas.

The $1.6 billion approved Thursday includes focusing on the basics, which is what CDOT heard on a listening tour across the state this summer and fall.

RELATED: Governor’s office releases first phase of transportation system overhaul

“CDOT heard clearly from citizens that we need to do a better job taking care of the roads across our expansive system,” the governor’s office said in a press release. “More than half of the funds allocated this week will help fix roads and bridges in both urban and rural areas.”

About 40% will go to “corridor-wide modernization” on Interstate 25, which the governor’s office said serves about 85% of Coloradans.

There’s money in the plan for improving Floyd Hill on Interstate 70 west of Denver and work on I-270.

The new plan reportedly will improve 55 corridors that serve freight, “which are so critical to Colorado’s economy,” the governor’s office said.

Polis’ people called the transportation budget “the largest investment in Colorado’s rural road network in recent history,” including work on 41 rural roads worth more than $330 million.

The urban areas also get a cut, the governor’s office boasted, including about $25 million for improving safety and mobility in Denver along roads like Colfax Avenue, Federal Boulevard and Sheridan Boulevard.

The governor’s office also cited Colorado 119 in Boulder, and money for I-70B in Grand Junction.

“We heard loud and clear from citizens across Colorado that they have some key concerns with our transportation system – safety and basic road condition; managing the impacts of growth and worsening congestion; and the need for more options to get to their destinations,” said CDOT executive director Shoshana Lew in a statement.

“Now that our neighbors have helped us prioritize the resources that our legislature authorized, we will focus on project management. That’s why today, we are announcing some of the steps that we will take to show taxpayers that we can deliver these projects on time and on budget, so they can see their precious dollars at work.”

Sandra Hagen Solin of the civic and business advocacy group Fix Colorado Roads said the approval of the list and the release of the money are critical steps in addressing the long list of needs.

“CDOT identifying projects and allocating funding is an important step forward for Colorado,” she said. “We have a lot more work to do, but every dollar we put in the system matters.”

Read a list of the projects by clicking here.