Picking up your children from daycare, delivering goods to the market, getting to school or work — whatever the destination, all Washingtonians deserve an equal opportunity to get to where we need to go.
Transportation should be a path to prosperity for working families and businesses. When we invest in our transportation infrastructure, we create thousands of jobs to help grow our economy. Smart investments will also provide Washingtonians the freedom to get to work and school reliably and affordably, giving all people opportunities for success.
Unfortunately, our system is broken.
Transportation investments no longer reflect what Washingtonians want and need. Our transportation system should provide opportunity not expense, headache, and danger. We need safe, efficient roads that we can rely on. For too long though, we have focused limited transportation dollars on expanding highways, not preserving our existing system. Now, our roads are in disrepair. The same is true for our ferry system. And because most of our state’s transportation budget is spent on roads, bus service has been slashed as much as 43% in some communities despite record high ridership.
These are the wrong priorities for today and tomorrow — and don’t reflect our changing social and economic trends and needs. Washingtonians want to spend less money at the gas pump and spend more time with their family. That’s why Washingtonians are driving less and choosing to live in affordable, walkable communities connected by transit. It’s time to give more Washingtonians this opportunity.
The good news is that by shifting long-standing investments toward fixing our roads, bridges and ferries, expanding transit service, and making our streets safer for all, we will not only create the backbone of a strong economy, we will also put more people to work. National studies find that road repair creates 17% more jobs than new highways, and even more impressively, both new bicycle and new transit infrastructure create 40% more jobs.
It is not only the right thing to do for our economy, it is the right thing to do for our environment. Our transportation system continues to be the leading polluter of our air and water. We can no longer ignore the toxic runoff and climate pollution from cars and trucks. We have to make sure that our transportation investments provide for cleaner and healthier transportation choices.
Washingtonians deserve better.
Our leaders need to address the importance of transportation investments in growing the economy and improving mobility while being realistic about what the state can responsibly finance, build, upkeep and operate given the changing demographics and needs of Washingtonians.
Washington only works when we all have an opportunity to get to where we need to go. With the right principles for reforming state transportation policy and funding, we will ensure that more Washingtonians have the freedom to get around safely and affordably, while securing a transparent transportation system that generates equal opportunity for all through the next decade.
Hilary Franz, Executive Director of Futurewise
Rob Johnson, Executive Director of Transportation Choices Coalition
Principles for Reform
Washington State faces a crisis of transportation priorities. More than ever, Washingtonians need the freedom to walk, bike, and ride transit affordably and comfortably to work, school, and where they need to go. But revenue challenges leave Washingtonians with fewer choices. Transit service is being slashed, leaving Washingtonians stranded. And gas tax revenues are locked into paying off bonds for past highway expansions, leaving our state’s potholed roadways and 156 structurally deficient bridges in a state of decay.
We believe Washingtonians deserve better. Now is the time to rise to these challenges and grow our economy by fixing our transportation system, creating more transit, bicycling, and walking choices, and building great healthy communities.
The Three Principles
Fix it first. We need to fix the crumbling bridges and roads we have first, and then ensure that our new investments will create jobs, spur economic growth, and improve the safety and health of our communities.
- Prioritize our state transportation dollars to fix bridges and roads, preserve our ferry system, and make streets accessible and safe for all users.
- Invest in new infrastructure that will improve the safety and health of our citizens, create jobs, reduce our dependence on oil, ensure rural safety, eliminate toxic runoff into our waterways, and ensure social equity and economic opportunity across the state.
More transit. Increasing our transportation choices will reduce congestion, improve freight mobility, decrease pollution, connect people to jobs, ensure equitable transportation options for everyone, and connect our rural communities.
- Empower citizens to fund new local transit service to meet and keep our growing ridership needs, increase people’s access to jobs and destinations, and improve mobility for low-income families and our state’s most vulnerable citizens.
- Establish a stable funding source for state and regional transit grant programs, intercity rail service, and congestion mitigation programs.
Build great, healthy communities. Development and transportation go hand-in-hand. We need a more efficient transportation system that both supports affordable and healthy neighborhoods and connects Washingtonians to jobs, their community and each other.
- Authorize local share gas tax and other funding tools for local governments to repair, maintain, and improve local roads, traffic signals, and facilities for safe biking and walking.
- Provide grants for local governments to support Complete Streets and equitable urban development in high-capacity transit areas.
- Dedicate funding for clean water infrastructure to eliminate toxic runoff pollution.
