For Coloradans, transportation means more than just highways

Re: “Mission creep and newspeak,” Jan. 7 Jon Caldara column.

Jon Caldara’s predictable attack on any kind of transportation other than automobiles is narrow-minded and not reflective of the desires of a large number of Coloradans. In particular, he tries to ridicule the building of trails and lanes for bicycles. Bicycle lanes and trails cost far less to build and maintain than automobile lanes, and every cyclist using them is one less car wearing down the roads and clogging up traffic. The Denver area cannot handle any more cars on our roads, so building bicycle infrastructure just makes more sense than trying to cram more cars onto the roads. In Copenhagen, which has much worse weather than Denver, half the commuters ride bicycles in separated lanes so that cars and bikes move smoothly through the city. The advent of e-bikes makes a bicycle commuting culture in Colorado even more viable. Stanley A. Sunderwirth, Roxborough Park

There are many reasons there’s not enough money to fund transportation infrastructure in Colorado. Jon Caldara rightfully puts the ultimate blame with the state legislature, but it’s not because the state decided to fund expanded health care, as he suggests. Rather, it has to do with a destructive mix of constitutional amendments, a refusal to raise the gas tax since the early 1980s, and lack of will to conceive and plan infrastructure for the 21st century. Further, to meet the needs of Colorado citizens, transportation can’t just be about roads and highways, as Caldara prefers. Where would that leave the many people who can’t afford a car or are unable to drive one? They need to get to work, medical appointments and the grocery store, too. Patricia Cronenberger, Littleton