Colorado’s Transit and Active-Transportation Inventory Deadline Has Arrived
Colorado’s July 1 deadline required CDOT and metropolitan planning organizations to inventory transit, bicycling and walking gaps. The lists may shape future planning and funding discussions, but they do not fund or schedule construction.
Colorado has reached the first major deadline under a transportation law signed by Gov. Jared Polis: The Colorado Department of Transportation and the state’s metropolitan planning organizations were required by July 1, 2026, to create inventories of gaps and planned projects involving transit, bicycling and walking.
The inventories are intended to make those needs visible in future transportation plans and funding discussions. A project’s inclusion on an inventory does not make it funded, programmed, approved for construction or scheduled for completion.
What SB25-030 required
Polis signed Senate Bill 25-030 into law on May 13, 2025. The law directs CDOT, working with local governments and transit agencies, to create an inventory identifying gaps in transit, bicycle and pedestrian infrastructure and access along state highways and rights-of-way controlled and maintained by the department.
Colorado’s metropolitan planning organizations have a separate responsibility. Their inventories cover gaps and planned projects within regionally significant roadways and rights-of-way typically subject to MPO planning and programming.
The law says projects should address connectivity and safety and have a reasonable expectation of user demand. It calls for cost estimates when they are available. The inventories must be updated as part of future regional and statewide transportation-plan updates and used to inform those plans, other transit service plans and transportation improvement programs.
What CDOT’s initial inventory covers
CDOT describes its inventory as a planning and coordination resource focused on state highways and CDOT-maintained rights-of-way. It identifies gaps and planned projects involving transit, bicycling and walking, including projects that may not yet have funding or a scheduled completion date.
That scope matters for residents interpreting the list. The CDOT inventory is not a complete list of every sidewalk, trail, transit facility or local-street project in Colorado. Local and regional projects may be addressed through MPO planning, but the statewide CDOT list is tied to the department’s transportation network.
In practical terms, a project’s appearance in an inventory means transportation officials have documented it for planning purposes. It does not establish that the project is funded, approved, financially feasible or scheduled for construction.
Why the October report matters
The next statutory milestone is due on or before October 31, 2026. CDOT and the metropolitan planning organizations must report on the inventories created and assess existing and potential funding sources for projects listed in them.
That report could give lawmakers and residents a clearer view of which transportation needs have been identified, where cost information is available and what funding sources officials believe could support future work. The inventory process itself does not substitute for the separate planning and programming decisions required before a project becomes funded work.
There is an administrative question about how the report will be received. The Transportation Legislation Review Committee’s current page says the committee will not meet during fiscal year 2026-27 and lists no hearing dates. SB25-030 nevertheless sets October 31, 2026, as the reporting deadline, so the submission and public-record process will be important to watch.
How residents can distinguish planning from programmed work
Residents looking for a project in their area should distinguish three separate questions:
- Has a gap or proposed project been documented in an inventory?
- Is there a cost estimate or identified funding source?
- Does the project appear in a funded transportation improvement program?
CDOT’s Statewide Transportation Improvement Program is the key source for the third question. CDOT describes the STIP as a federally required, four-year program of planned transportation projects and says it incorporates the transportation improvement programs developed by the state’s MPOs. The FY2027-FY2030 STIP was adopted by the Transportation Commission on June 18, 2026.
That distinction is consequential. The new inventories can influence statewide and regional transportation plans, transit service plans and transportation improvement programs. But residents should generally treat a project as scheduled work only after it appears in an applicable funded program or receives another documented funding and authorization decision.
What happens next
CDOT and the MPOs must continue updating the inventories through regional and statewide plan updates. The October 31 report is the next opportunity to examine how the lists are being used and what existing or potential funding sources are identified.
For residents, the most useful follow-up will be whether a documented need advances into a funded transportation program. Until that happens, the inventory is best understood as a public planning list: a way to show where Colorado’s transportation system has gaps and which projects officials may consider in later decisions.
Sources
- Colorado Department of Transportation: Statewide Transportation Improvement Program
- Colorado General Assembly: Transportation Legislation Review Committee
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