Light Rail Will Run to Tacoma Dome

Submitted by Paul Ellis

As advocated by RAMP as Pierce County's top transit priority, Sound Transit's Board of Directors voted unanimously this afternoon to extend light rail service all the way to Tacoma Dome.

This highly-anticipated expansion of the system--an amendment to the draft Sound Transit 2 project scope--will be offered to the region's voters in November as part of the Road & Transit ballot package.

Paul Ellis is lead staff for RAMP; an employee of the Tacoma-Pierce County Chamber, Ellis led the Pierce County Transportation Advisory Committee (PCTAC), the community's largest transportation planning effort.

RTID: Time is Running Out to Comment

Friday is the deadline for comments to be submitted to the Regional Transportation Investment District (RTID) regarding the Blueprint for Progress proposal that will comprise the roads portion of the Roads & Transit ballot request in November.

RAMP has submitted a letter representing Pierce County's collective consensus, and a similar letters have been sent to RTID from the Frederickson, Parkland & Spanaway Division and the Port-Industrial Committee of the Tacoma-Pierce County Chamber. Interest groups in King County are running an advertising campaign in their local media asking people to write letters opposing the Cross-Base Highway (SR-704), so communications from highway supporters are critically important.

To submit a letter or e-mail to RTID:

Mailing Address
Attn: Kjristine Lund
Regional Transportation Investment District
411 University St., Suite 1200
Seattle, WA 98101

E-mail Address
klund@lundconsulting.com

Invitation to RAMP Participants

RAMP participants are encouraged to take part in a one-day workshop next Wednesday, March 28th, sponsored by the Regional Transportation Investment District (RTID). Collectively entitled The Path Forward, the workshop will present a series of sessions focusing on three important policy areas: tolling and congestion pricing; carbon assessment and greenhouse gases; and construction mitigation.

The format for each session will be a brief presentation by panelists followed by a facilitated discussion, and then a question–and–answer session with the audience. The outcome from the workshop will be a record of proceedings, with suggestions for policy direction for the RTID Executive Board on each of the three topics.

For more information about next week's event, please visit the RTID website. RAMP participants interested in attending should RSVP for the session or sessions they would like to attend.

SR-167 Completion: a Win for Commuters and Congestion Relief

For twenty years, SR-167’s current dead end in a strawberry field in Puyallup has served as a reminder of continuing gaps in our region’s transportation system. Its completion will result not just in the completion of a roadway, but also a step forward in the completion of a transportation network.

There has been much discussion about the benefits SR-167 will bring to freight mobility and economic development, connecting the Port of Tacoma to the warehouse and distribution centers of the Puyallup and Green River Valleys. What some have overlooked, however, is what a completed SR-167 will mean for people. Current projections indicate that trucks hauling freight to and from the Port will make up only about 4 percent of vehicle traffic from I-5 to Puyallup along a completed SR-167. That means the remaining 96 percent will be other users, predominately commuters in personal vehicles. Extending SR-167 to Tacoma will provide more route options for commuters and regional travelers, and creates a more efficient connection between south King County and Pierce County. In fact, 30 percent of residents in Pierce County regularly commute north. A completed SR-167 will provide a vital link in our highway system not only for them, but also the thousands of citizens traveling east and west across Pierce County.

How They Voted - SB5803

Submitted by Paul Ellis

Here's the roll call resulting in yesterday's passage of SB5803:

Voting Yea: Senators Berkey, Brandland, Clements, Delvin, Fairley, Franklin, Fraser, Hatfield, Haugen, Hewitt, Hobbs, Honeyford, Kastama, Kline, Kohl-Welles, Marr, McAuliffe, Morton, Murray, Oemig, Parlette, Pflug, Prentice, Pridemore, Rasmussen, Rockefeller, Schoesler, Sheldon, Spanel, Swecker, Tom, Weinstein, and Zarelli

Voting Nay: Senators Benton, Carrell, Eide, Holmquist, Jacobsen, Kauffman, Keiser, Kilmer, McCaslin, Poulsen, Regala, Roach, Shin, and Stevens

Absent: Senators Brown and Hargrove

Paul Ellis is lead staff for RAMP; an employee of the Tacoma-Pierce County Chamber, Ellis led the Pierce County Transportation Advisory Committee (PCTAC), the community's largest transportation planning effort.

Murray Moves RTC Forward

Submitted by Paul Ellis

The Washington State Legislature is moving ahead with sweeping changes to the way transportation projects are funded--and not in a positive manner for Pierce County.

Yesterday, despite opposition by RAMP and other transportation advocacy groups, the Washington State Senate passed SB5803 by a comfortable margin, 33-14. The bill, sponsored by Senator Ed Murray, would enact provisions of the Regional Transportation Commission if also adopted by the House without significant changes.

The bill sets up a new body of elected officials from King, Pierce and Snohomish counties, elected by district. "It will clearly be dominated by King County voters and money," warns RAMP Co-Chair John Ladenburg. This group will take over the funding and planning for local and regional road and transit projects and would displace the transportation planning and funding functions of the Puget Sound Regional Council (PSRC).

RAMP Co-Chair David Graybill told Senators that the legislation "will destroy Pierce County's hard won equity role in regional transportation project planning and funding, and shift the influence to Seattle/Bellevue, where this idea got its life. "

"Another mega-regional governance vehicle is the last thing we need," Graybill concluded, especially now when "[WS]DOT, Sound Transit, and Pierce Transit are all cooperating and planning together like never before with most projects being done well and completed on time as funding becomes available."

Other voices around the region are also sounding an alarm. The Northwest Progressive Institute claims that the legislation will "complicate and confuse the existing decision making process, which is already hard for many citizens to understand. The proposed law would stomp all over home rule and local control by essentially consolidating existing transportation agencies into one larger entity."

Traffic congestion is a worsening problem throughout the Puget Sound region--not just in King County. That message needs to be communicated to members of the Washington House of Representatives, where the battle now begins.

Paul Ellis is lead staff for RAMP; an employee of the Tacoma-Pierce County Chamber, Ellis led the Pierce County Transportation Advisory Committee (PCTAC), the community's largest transportation planning effort.

Scorecard for the 2007 Legislature (I)

Submitted by Paul Ellis

RAMP is watching a number of bills currently in play in Olympia, and will continue to pursue the consensus Legislative agenda with state lawmakers duirng the 2007 Session.

The following bills should be of interest to RAMP participants and will be tracked by the group until their ultimate disposition:

• HB1094 and SB5136 are versions from each chamber proposing transportation appropriations for the biennium (2007-2009);


• HB1396 and SB5282 both provide for a single ballot proposition for the Regional Transportation Investment District (RTID) and Sound Transit at the 2007 general election;


• HB1858 and SB5767 both permit transportation benefit districts that fully encompass a city or county to impose impact fees for up to $20.00 in vehicle fees without voter approval;


• SB5207 is the substitute bill amending the controversial container tax proposal and, instead, authorizing a study to evaluate the imposition of such a fee in the context of other funding mechanisms to improve freight corridors;


• HB2101 and SB5803 propose two versions for implementing recommendations from the Regional Transportation Commission;


• SJR8211 extends state bonding from thirty to forty years for transportation projects;


• HB1773 helps implement recommendations of the Washington State Transportation Commission's Tolling Study;


• HB2146 and SB5681 will help residents of the Gig Harbor Peninsula get a break on tolls for crossing the new Narrows Bridge.

Paul Ellis is lead staff for RAMP; an employee of the Tacoma-Pierce County Chamber, Ellis led the Pierce County Transportation Advisory Committee (PCTAC), the community's largest transportation planning effort.

RAMP Submits FY 2007-2008 Federal Requests

Submitted by Paul Ellis

RAMP has compiled a consensus list of federal transportation projects for appropriation in the Fiscal Year (FY) 2007 and 2008 budgets now being finalized by Congress. The list has been submitted to Pierce County's Congressional delegation, headed by Congressman Norm Dicks and Senator Patty Murray.

Here's the list:

FY 2007 Transportation Appropriations
RAMP seeks restoration of the following earmarked appropriations:

• SR-704 (Cross-Base Highway)
  $1.0M to fence or complete acquisition of ROW
• FAST Corridor Improvements
  $1.0M for Shaw Rd. extension
  $1.5M for Lincoln Ave. overpass
• Peninsula Park & Ride
  $1.0M for construction of a new Pierce Transit facility to support additional service across the Tacoma Narrows
• University Place Town Center
  $2.0 million for completion of the Intermodal Transit Center

FY 2008 Transportation Appropriations
RAMP requests that the following projects be slated for appropriation:

• SR-704 (Cross-Base Highway)
  $5.0M to construct from Spanaway Loop Rd. to SR-7
• FAST Corridor Improvements
  $3.5M for Shaw Rd. extension
  $4.9M for Lincoln Ave. overpass
• Port of Tacoma Rd.
  $5.0M for interchange improvements at junction at I-5
• Peninsula Park & Ride
  $2.0M for construction of a new Pierce Transit facility to support additional service across the Tacoma Narrows
• Alternate Access to Tacoma Dome Station
  $1.5M for feasibility analysis for constructing slip ramps connecting ‘D’ St. with SR-509

Paul Ellis is lead staff for RAMP; an employee of the Tacoma-Pierce County Chamber, Ellis led the Pierce County Transportation Advisory Committee (PCTAC), the community's largest transportation planning effort.

Sierra Club (Surprise!) Pans Proposed RTID Package

Submitted by Paul Ellis

The Sierra Club recently announced that it will push for a carbon emission assessment to be included in every regional transportation plan being developed in Washington State--in particular, the regional Roads & Transit measure expected to be on the ballot in November.

"Unfortunately, RTID has proposed a road construction package that does not address our region's immediate need to address global warming," wrote club officials in a release. The club is asking RTID to amend its proposed package to meet the following goals:

• Prioritize public health and safety projects above highway expansion;
• Reframe the goals of projects to move people and goods, not just cars;
• Emphasize projects that improve reliability of public transit and reduce single-occupancy vehicles; and
• Introduce tolling on all limited-access highways to reduce congestion, increase efficiency and decrease global warming emissions.

The group also states that it is pushing for SB6001 during this Legislative Session. The bill, if adopted by the Legislature, would establish goals for the statewide reduction in greenhouse gas emissions and reduction in petroleum use, and would direct officials to design and recommend a comprehensive set of measures to accomplish those goals.

Paul Ellis is lead staff for RAMP; an employee of the Tacoma-Pierce County Chamber, Ellis led the Pierce County Transportation Advisory Committee (PCTAC), the community's largest transportation planning effort.