A legislator says the state should consider turning over many of its highways - and much of the money to maintain them - to local officials to return the process of planning and paying for roads to their level.

Money and planning that goes through the Colorado Department of Transportation to solve regional traffic problems could better be handled locally, says Rep. Glenn Vaad, R-Mead, who used to be a CDOT engineer and official.

Gov. Bill Ritter is planning today to name members to a panel that will recommend ways to get more money and resources into transportation projects.

Vaad said the CDOT should concentrate on its primary mission - to build and maintain highways that connect cities across the state - and transfer the maintenance and improvement of current state highways to cities and regions.

"Eighty-five percent of the vehicle miles traveled in the north Front Range region originates and stays within that region," said Vaad, who lives in the Lari- mer-Weld counties area around Fort Collins, Loveland and Greeley. "Why should drivers in the Denver region pay for that?"

Ritter's panel will stage a statewide summit meeting on transportation funding on April 5, from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m., at the Colorado Convention Center in Denver. It will then hold five regional summits around the state before forwarding a report to the governor later this year.

The April summit will feature Tyler Duvall, assistant secretary for policy with the U.S. Department of Transportation, and Martin Wachs of the Rand Corp., who has written on shortfalls in transportation funding.

Vaad points out that planning for major highway corridor improvements is done at the regional level, while the bulk of the funding comes from the state. His plan would give those planning improvements the responsibility of paying for them, too.

Vaad would have CDOT concentrate on improving and maintaining connections between regions, but highways that handle travel within regions - including busy corridors such as Interstate 25 - would be turned over to local planners and agencies.

He would turn over some, but not all, of the state money for them and then authorize local officials to form regional organizations that could propose their own taxes or funding methods.

Vaad has bounced his idea off some others who question whether it would result in different regions of the state having different levels of transportation service.

flynnk@RockyMountainNews.com or 303-954-5247