Potential Impact of Coronavirus On DOTs and Local Transportation Departments

Navjoy has written a White Paper to show at a very high-level the potential impact to certain CDOT and local (counties and cities) transportation departments revenues from the coronavirus.  It provides a broad-brush approach “snapshot” of the potential impact to certain revenues, but not all revenues, that are critical to these agencies.

Revenue Numbers Force Dots To Adjust

The majority of CDOT revenues come from state gas taxes, vehicle registration fees and FASTER fees that are appropriated through the Highway Users Tax Fund (HUTF). Projected revenues were extracted from the CDOT Final Budget Allocation Plan FY2019-20, dated March 21, 2019, which is the period from July 1, 2019 through June 30, 2020.  This does not include other projected revenues generated from sources other than those identified in the table, which were about $47.2 million dollars. 

Governor Polis issued a stay at home order for Colorado beginning on about March 26 and anticipated through April 26, which is a period of four weeks. It is reasonable to assume that traffic volume in Colorado had decreased commensurate with the nationwide decrease prior to the stay at home order, and has further decreased in conjunction with traffic study findings. 

State Gas Taxes Gasoline, Diesel, and special fuels 327.3
Vehicle Registration Fees Motor vehicle title and registration, driver’s license and vehicle license plate 117.0
Other HUTF Gasoline, Diesel, and special fuels 23.4