For more than a year, governments, health care providers, community nonprofits, and businesses across Washington have been responding to the public health and economic challenges posed by the COVID pandemic. Our health care system remains stretched thin, and the virus continues to cause economic uncertainty for families across the state.
In addition to these major challenges, the pandemic obscured another urgent key issue for our future: the state of Washington’s transportation infrastructure. As employees working remotely reduced the number of car trips around the region and across the state, transportation funding declined. Although we look to recover and reopen our economy, the return of more frequent gridlock will remind us of the critical and ever-growing need to maintain and expand our transportation infrastructure and options.
Washington has too many aging bridges that raise safety concerns. Too many rural communities and urban neighborhoods alike are served by roads needing repairs and updating. And too many residents of the Central Puget Sound region continue sitting in time-wasting and environmentally damaging congestion because prior transportation and transit investments haven’t kept up with population or economic growth.
Without new state transportation funding, these problems will persist and grow. The legislature needs to address this situation by coming together and passing a transportation revenue package as soon as possible. We urgently need funding to maintain and preserve our existing system, construct critical new projects, and expand transit systems.
A healthy economy depends on moving products safely and efficiently, whether that’s airplane parts heading to a Boeing plant, Wenatchee apples headed for export, or groceries headed for your local supermarket shelves. Transportation linkages also go a long way in dictating quality of life. Employees traveling to jobs, parents taking children to school, patients going to a doctor appointment, even fans headed to a Seahawks game—none want to waste time stuck in traffic.
Legislators understand this; they see the need. They’re right to have a sense of urgency and engage in serious negotiations outside of the legislative session. Ultimately, they must reach consensus on a transportation revenue package.
While lawmakers address current needs, they should also be thinking strategically about what transportation investments will best position the region and the state for the long term. We have an opportunity to create new and exciting economic opportunities, reduce congestion, and ease housing shortages by funding innovative transportation alternatives such as an ultra-high-speed rail system linking Vancouver, B.C., Seattle, and Portland. It’s a major project that would be a game-changer for future generations.
At the federal level, there are hopeful signs that federal funding could become available to help. Both the infrastructure package and the budget reconciliation proposal include potential funding opportunities for high-speed rail. But federal funding often requires some form of state match, and our state will have to clearly demonstrate that we are serious about investing in our future.
The sooner the Legislature has a plan to move forward, the better. It must include both plans for immediate investment and a long-term vision for the future. The need isn’t going away; in fact, it will only grow as the economy continues to recover from the pandemic. And we know from experience that costs will only increase in the future.
In addition to addressing critical needs in our transportation infrastructure, a transportation revenue package will help our state more quickly emerge from this pandemic, by providing jobs and supporting our rebounding economy. Progress can and should be made on this urgent issue—whether in a special legislative session later this fall or in the early days of the 2022 regular session.
Our transportation challenges have an outsized impact on everyone, and with each passing day that impact grows. We need to act quickly to ensure the best outcome and continue building a bright future for all people and businesses across our state.
