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Steamboat Springs — A city of Steamboat Springs official recently took a trip to Washington, D.C., to lobby Congress for more funding for transportation in Colorado.

George Krawzoff, Steamboat Springs' director of transit and transportation services, also is president of the Colorado Association of Transit Agencies. The association, as well as the Colorado Transit Coalition, represented the state last week in the nation's capital.

Since 1998, Colo--rado has received transportation funding through a discretionary grant program of the Federal Transit Ad--ministration.

Dur--ing that time, the state has received more than $79 million, of which Steamboat received $4.9 million.

However, the funding has declined from the $13.6 million annual allotment the state received a couple of years ago. Krawzoff and other officials went to Washington to request that funding levels be restored.

"We believe that number to be appropriate given the shares that other states have received," Krawzoff said in a recent interview.

Money from the discretionary grant program has been used to replace the city's 20-plus transit vehicles.

The money also has been used to renovate the city's $1.4 million transit operations center and for improvements to the Gondola Transit Center. The city has not spent all of the money it has received from the Federal Transit Administration, Krawzoff said.

Krawzoff said he thought last week's lobbying effort was successful.

"We believe we had strong support of the entire Congress--ional delegation," Krawzoff said. He said Sen. Wayne All--ard, R-Colo., Sen. Ken Salazar, D-Colo., and Rep. John Salazar, D-Colo., were particularly supportive, as were other Colorado officials.

"They have done a very good job supporting our requests," Krawzoff said.

--o reach Dana Strongin, call 871-4229

or e-mail dstrongin@steamboatpilot.com