Slight decrease in road miles tops Highway Users Tax Fund report
Published on January 30, 2026
A slight decrease in the total miles of roads Weld County maintains reflects the impact of continued growth, road improvements, and municipal annexations. The county now maintains 2,858.40 miles of roads — a difference of nearly 10 miles from a year ago. The figure, part of the 2025 Highway Users Tax Fund (HUTF) Annual Mileage and Certification Report, was approved Wednesday by the Weld County Board of Commissioners. The report will be submitted to the Colorado Department of Transportation (CDOT) and be used to determine how much HUTF funding the county will receive in 2026 to care for its roads.
Several county road projects played a hand in the new total. The majority of county road miles — 2,079.72 — remain gravel, while 778.68 are paved.
A decrease in the total number of miles the county maintains is somewhat expected with more people moving to the county and continued annexation. An estimated 369,745 people call Weld County home — an increase of over 12% from 2020, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. Eleven annexations involving county roads took place in 2025, one of the more notable being the City of Greeley’s annexation of the roundabout at 35th Avenue and O Street, the final step in a project the county completed in 2022.
Since its creation in 1953, the HUTF has been a critical revenue source for transportation projects statewide. HUTF funding, derived from various vehicle and road fees — fuel tax, registration, delivery fees, etc. — is split between CDOT, other state agencies, counties, and municipalities based on statutory formulas. Based on forecasts in its Budget Allocation Plan for Fiscal Year 2025 through 2026, CDOT anticipates receiving $665 million in HUTF distributions, and $256 million in distributions is expected to be split among Colorado’s 64 counties.
In 2025, Weld County received $12.8 million from the HUTF, third most in the state, behind Jefferson and El Paso Counties.
To learn more about the HUTF, visit the Colorado Department of the Treasury.