Refunding Bonds Save Colorado Millions

August 25, 2011 - Statewide Transportation Plan - STATEWIDE – Taking advantage of falling interest rates, today, the Colorado Department of Transportation (CDOT) refunded $106,070,000 of the Transportation Revenue Anticipation Notes (TRANs) it issued in 2004 to accelerate strategic transportation projects such as T-REX in the south metro Denver area and others across the state.

The average interest rate for the new issue is 1.42 percent. The interest rate on the 2004A bonds ranged from 3.69 percent to 3.77 percent when originally issued.

The refund is expected to save the state about $3.29 million over the remaining life of the bonds while maintaining the same payoff date for the entire TRANs bond program in 2017. Most of the savings will be realized through a reduction of debt service payments.

“At a time when funding for transportation is scarce, taking advantage of market conditions is the responsible thing to do,” said CDOT Executive Director Don Hunt. “This refunding allows us to take advantage of low interest rates providing a significant savings to CDOT which in turn will make more dollars available to invest in our transportation system.”