The project is being funded through President Joe Biden's 2021 bipartisan Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA) and the Rural Surface Transportation Grant Program (RSTGP), with roughly $50 million provided to get it done. Boebert has repeatedly said on social media that she helped secure the money, working along with other legislators and local officials.
There's just one problem: The congresswoman proudly voted against the infrastructure package, telling 9News anchor Kyle Clark during a Colorado District 4 GOP debate on May 30 that she'd do it over again if given another chance.
"Yes, and I would've worked for a process to get those [projects] over the line," she said.
Boebert has been called out repeatedly for touting the South Bridge Project funding, with other politicians and even the White House social media pages blasting her online for voting against Biden's infrastructure act.
On May 22, the CD3 rep — who is now running in CD4, which does not include Glenwood Springs — posted a photo on social media of her standing with Glenwood Springs City Council member and former mayor Jonathan Godes, along with a message celebrating how they've "secured over $51.4 million for the South Bridge."
Great meeting with Glenwood Springs City Councilor and former Mayor Jonathan Godes.
— Rep. Lauren Boebert (@RepBoebert) May 22, 2024
We have secured over $51.4 million for the South Bridge.
Was thrilled to hear about nearly $30 million in costs savings in addition and that my support has helped make this project a reality. pic.twitter.com/geWDMPb9YX
The post was criticized heavily by social media users, including U.S. Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg, and it even got a community note on X saying that Boebert's claims about securing the funding were false.
So what's the truth?
According to Glenwood Springs officials, it's complicated.
"When we got that grant, things got real, and they got real in a hurry," Godes tells Westword.
"The support of our entire congressional delegation, along with the ability to have such a significant resource in the IIJA, is what really enabled this project to move forward," he says.
"We appreciate all our congressional district's support and are grateful this project was funded," says Glenwood Springs Mayor Ingrid Wussow. "However, you can't say that a DOT-funded grant for $50 million, which was the bulk of the funding, was sourced directly from her."
But Wussow also points out that the Republican congresswoman did, in fact, petition for a small slice of funding for the South Bridge Project — $1.4 million, to be exact — in March 2023 through a successful Community Project Funding request.
According to Boebert, she voted against the IIJA because she believed most of the money wouldn't go to roads and bridges, but to other efforts.
"President Biden calls everything under the sun infrastructure, but only 6 percent of his $2.3 trillion so-called infrastructure plan goes to roads and bridges," Boebert blasted in a May 2021 statement. "The rest goes to climate change, increasing government bureaucracy, and unrelated liberal wish-list items."
While Boebert went into full attack mode over the infrastructure act, she also advocated both behind the scenes and publicly for Glenwood Springs' grant application for the South Bridge Project and other improvements to the I-70 corridor.
In May 2021, Boebert wrote a letter "in strong support" of the South Bridge Project grant application to the Federal Emergency Management Agency for Building Resilient Infrastructure and Communities Grant funds, according to her office. She held meetings with Godes, who was the Glenwood Springs mayor at the time, former city manager Debra Figueroa and then-councilmember Wussow.
In June 2022, Boebert sent a letter to Buttigieg and the Department of Transportation in support of Glenwood's application for $33.1 million in RSTGP funds. She emphasized the importance of the South Bridge Project and requested "fair consideration" for the grant application, according to her office.
"With Rural Surface Transportation grant funds, Glenwood Springs will construct a new bridge connection that will provide a critical second emergency route/evacuation access between State Highway 82 and the western side of the Roaring Fork River in the City's South Corridor," Boebert wrote in the letter to Buttigieg. "Glenwood Springs’ South Bridge Project aligns with the Rural Surface Transportation program’s goals to improve and expand the surface transportation infrastructure in rural areas to increase connectivity, improve the safety and reliability of the movement of people, generate regional economic growth, and improve the quality of life for residents of the Lower Colorado River Valley and the Roaring Fork Valley. This connection will also reduce traffic congestion, improve safety along State Highway 82, and will protect hundreds of lives in the event of a fast-moving fire."
The South Bridge Project has been in the works for decades and is expected to begin construction by 2026 at the latest.
Office of Representative Lauren Boebert
"I'm a person who believes your elected officials are your elected officials, whether or not you always agree with their positions," Wussow tells Westword. "So, you know, in this situation, we did receive full support from all of our congressional leaders and officials. And so I'm grateful, I truly am grateful, in everything that happened behind the scenes."
Wussow believes elected officials shouldn't be defined solely by how they vote, but also by how they help the community they're representing. This is especially true when it comes to Boebert and Biden's infrastructure act, which already had enough votes and support from Republicans to pass without Boebert's approval, she notes, ultimately giving the congresswoman a chance to campaign for funding while also keeping her reputation intact by voting "no."
Lauren Boebert managed to raise $1.4 million for the South Bridge Project.
Office of Representative Lauren Boebert
"When you are looking at such a complex bill that touches on so many socially divided subjects and funding sources and opportunities, I think it's really easy for politics to play into a decision when, really, the good of all can be possible," Wussow explains. "It becomes so incredibly political that the good of the people is overlooked for the good of the political party. And I think that we as Americans suffer from that a lot, where the two-party system makes it so our delegates don't always choose to support us in times when we really need it. But in this case, they did end up doing that — so I'm grateful for that."
Boebert's press secretary, Drew Sexton, tells Westword it's "no surprise" that the White House and officials like Buttigieg would "ignore the many crises facing our nation" to spend time attacking the congresswoman online for her posts about the South Bridge Project.
"It is important for Coloradans to know the truth and full story," he says, adding that Boebert "secured funding through the House Appropriations process, wrote additional letters of support, and used her platform to advocate for funding of the project, which in part came from a program (RSTGP) that was established in 2015. As proof of that important advocacy, her office has been recognized and thanked by local elected officials from across the aisle for her support of the project."
As for the project itself, Godes and Wussow say things have been coming together nicely for Glenwood Springs and everyone involved, but there is still a lot to be done. "It's a race to value-engineer something that needs the resources that we have while trying to stay ahead of inflation," Godes says. "Our hope is that we are at 100 percent design by this fall and we're able to take it out to bid early next year — with, hopefully, construction starting in late 2025, early 2026 at the latest."
Godes calls the bridge a "twenty-year necessity" that's both a local and regional need.
"For anyone who's driven through our town, they know that when you have two major rivers running through it, a railroad and a handful of major highways, bridges are links for the whole community," Wussow says. "This bridge is highly imperative for the whole entire region. So much of our workforce travels up and down this corridor daily, and this is a major constriction, because it's the only section of the highway that runs right through a downtown and slows everything down to 25 mph. So this is huge for us, and I'm grateful for anyone who helped us get there."
