The four member governments of the Pikes Peak Rural Transportation Authority spent more than $83 million in 2008 on road construction and maintenance projects and on transit, according to the agency’s annual report to citizens.

The $71 million in revenue raised in 2008 by a 1 percent tax approved by voters in 2004 – and carryover funds from previous years – allowed Colorado Springs, El Paso County, Manitou Springs and Green Mountain Falls to start or complete major projects they otherwise could not have afforded and supplement maintenance budgets hard hit by a decline in sales tax revenue, officials have said.

A majority of the revenue – 55 percent – is dedicated to capital improvement projects; 35 percent to maintenance; and 10 percent to transit. The capital portion of the tax ends in 2014, when the tax will drop to 0.45 percent unless voters opt to renew the current rate.Manitou Springs used its share of the 2008 capital revenue, about $44,000, as a match for $656,000 in federal funds to help pay for its ongoing Manitou Avenue Streetscape Project.

The six-phase project, which began in 2004, has included pedestrian, roadway, storm drainage, street lighting and landscape improvements, plus the addition of a roundabout at the intersection of Manitou Avenue and Ruxton Drive.

Manitou used its $251,000 in maintenance revenue to repave Oak Place, Pilot Knob Avenue and the 600 block of Crystal Hills Boulevard. The city also stabilized the embankment of Sutherland Creek that borders the 100 block of Crystal Park Road. The embankment was heavily damaged by flooding in 1999.

Green Mountain Falls used its capital funds, about $8,700, to widen Ute Pass Avenue. It used its maintenance money, about $39,000, on ongoing projects to control erosion and lay aggregate on city streets.

The PPRTA has projected a 16 percent decline in sales tax revenue in 2009, about $11.3 million less than the $70.8 million originally projected, because of the recession.

Get the report online

The Pikes Peak Rural Transportation Authority’s 2008 Annual Report to the Citizens is available at a variety of locations. On Friday, it is expected to be posted on the authority’s website, www.pprta.com. It also will be available at news racks at all King Soopers and Safeway stores in the region, and more than 200,000 copies will be distributed through area publications, including The Gazette.

Broncos tight end Tony Scheffler had 40 catches for 645 yards and three touchdowns last season. Photo by CHRISTIAN MURDOCK, THE GAZETTE