AASHTO Journal - Colorado DOT: ‘Revitalizing Main Streets’ Going Strong

In 2020, the Colorado Department of Transportation introduced its “Revitalizing Main Streets” grant program to support infrastructure projects that provide open spaces for mobility, community activities, and economic development in areas in or adjacent to downtown areas statewide in the wake of the COVID-19 emergency.

[Above photo via Wikipedia Commons]

That program works hand-in-glove with the “Main Street” program sponsored by Colorado’s Department of Local Affairs or DOLA, which not only helps review the grant application to Colorado DOT’s programs but also provides “mini-grant” and consulting services to boost main street revitalization for communities across the state.

Looking back on a year of the two programs working together, the Colorado DOT said 14 of Colorado’s “official” Main Streets and 18 of the program’s affiliates were among cities and towns to benefit from this collaboration. The agency added that many of those municipalities leveraged their association with DOLA’s Main Street program to make their Revitalizing Main Streets grant applications more competitive.

Colorado DOT Director Shoshana Lew (far left) and Gov. Jared Polis (center) inspecting I-70 damage. Photo by Colorado DOT.

“These community driven projects are a great illustration of multiple state agency programs working together to leverage support and funding opportunities for our resilient local partners across the state of Colorado,” noted Shoshana Lew, Colorado DOT executive director, in a statement.

“[We are] thankful for the collaboration between our Revitalizing Main Streets team and DOLA’s Colorado Main Street program, as well as the high level of support from Governor Polis’s administration, to keep this positive momentum going for our state’s downtowns to come back stronger than ever,” she added.

Funding for the Revitalizing Main Streets program comes via a $30 million allocation made by Colorado’s legislature and signed into law by Governor Jared Polis (D) in March. The passage and signing of SB21-260 – the more than $5 billion “Sustainability of the Transportation System” legislative package – in June provides further funding to extend this program beyond the current grant cycle, the Colorado DOT noted.