Councilman Johnny Olson and the rest of the city council went to bat for Greeley residents as they said Public Works downplayed the cost and extended the construction time for a long-awaited project to build interchanges at two busy intersections.
On Tuesday, Greeley Public Works provided an update on the Mobility Expansion for Regional Growth (MERGE) project, which has been a top priority for the city since 2015. The city recently withdrew a $65 million voter-approved loan from the Build America Bureau under the Transportation Infrastructure and Finance Innovation Act and has raised an additional $51.7 million in grants.
“It’s a record amount of funding,” City Manager Raymond Lee said. “Nobody else in Colorado has seen this kind of funding before.”
The MERGE project aims to address Greeley’s top two dangerous intersections at 35th Avenue and 47th Avenue along the U.S. 34 Bypass and construct new, safer interchanges. The project also includes a new mobility hub that would help pedestrians better traverse that area of Greeley safely.
After voters approved a measure in November that allowed the city to take on the $65 million in debt, the project became fully funded according to Public Works, and they are ready to proceed with the project’s next steps. The estimated cost provided to the council was $131.2 million, and the project is estimated to be completed by the end of 2029.
Olson took control of the council meeting from there, criticizing the handling of this project and placing blame on Public Works for how long the project would take. Olson said this project could’ve been completed within the next year if Public Works Director Paul Trombino had not told the Colorado Department of Transportation (CDOT) to stop working on the project in 2021.
“We could’ve finished this in 2026, but now we’re two years behind because you guys wanted to do it yourselves,” Olson said.
Trombino admitted to halting CDOT’s work in 2021 because the city didn’t have a financial strategy to fund the project then. Olson, a former deputy executive director of CDOT, said many steps of the project could have been completed without a financial strategy, allowing the city to be further along on this project than it currently is.
Olson further criticized Public Works for their behavior toward CDOT, saying they’ve hurt the city’s relationship with CDOT, potentially putting them in a bad position. Due to this strained relationship, the city will likely be opting to move all of MERGE’s design and project planning in-house, increasing the city’s risk and omitting the protections that working with CDOT would provide, he continued.
“Our relationship with CDOT has been downright disrespectful and uncalled for,” Olson said. “I don’t believe that the city of Greeley has the ability to deliver on this project.”
City staff reassured the council it was still possible to work with CDOT, but they recommended moving the project in-house to save the city an additional $400,000. Olson, however, argued that the $400,000 is worth it to ensure the city remains federally compliant and criticized the estimated cost as being far too low from reality anyhow.
“I think the council and the constituents need to know that it’s not going to be $131 million,” Olson said. “It’s probably going to be closer to $155 million to $170 million.”
The other city council members didn’t need much more convincing to support Olson’s perspective. Councilman Tommy Butler agreed that Public Works needs to speed up the process.
“When we brought this to the voters, I think they imagined this would be done before 2029,” Butler said. “You’ve presented us with these options on how to proceed, but it seems like we’re just going to charge forward with what you have decided on your own.”
Mayor John Gates closed the discussion by expressing his disappointment at the impression that the city would not include CDOT in the project and his remorse about their strained relationship with the city.
“I had personally hoped that CDOT would be part of this moving forward, and I’m disappointed about our relationship with them,” Gates said. “But this project is going to happen now no matter what, and we didn’t know that six months ago.”
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