Chamber Endorses Roads & Transit Plan

Submitted by Paul Ellis

This morning, the Tacoma-Pierce County Chamber came on board as the latest supporter for the Roads & Transit package on the November ballot.

The Chamber's Board of Directors unanimously endorsed a resolution presented by Gary Nomenson from Puget Sound Energy, representing the group's Public Affairs Committee. "Decades of deferred investment in the region’s transportation infrastructure will be addressed in the combined Roads & Transit proposal," the resolution read, "which was developed by regional leaders through two high-level venues: the Regional Transportation Investment District (RTID) chaired by Pierce County Councilmember Shawn Bunney, and Sound Transit, the regional transit agency chaired by John Ladenburg, Pierce County Executive."

The business group's approval is timely as members of the Pierce County Council prepare to consider action next week on the package--whether or not to join their peers in King and Snohomish counties in placing the combined package on the ballot.

Meanwhile, a new regional poll reveals that fifty-seven percent of voters in the Central Puget Sound are inclinced to vote for the package. Politicians and transportation planners have been quietly worrying that the roads and transit package might be doomed, but Elway's latest poll of 400 voters last week suggests there's some hope.

The survey, which has a margin of error of 5 percent, did reveal that only 38 percent of those questioned had heard of the tax plan. That's not surprising because interest groups, both pro and con, haven't started their ad blitz yet.

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.

For Whom the Roads Toll

Submitted by Paul Ellis

More than 120 people convened this past Wednesday for the Puget Sound Regional Council's workshop, The Future of Transportation Finance: Lessons from Road Charging Experiments. Speakers included local and international policymakers in the area of transportation finance (click on highlighted titles to see their presentations):

• Doug MacDonald, Secretary of Transportation, WSDOT
• Daniel Mathis, FHWA Region Administrator - National Programs Overview
• Larry Ehl, Federal Liasion, WSDOT - The Big Picture: Federal Transportation Finance
• Jim Bourgart, Undersecretary of Transportation, State of California
• Travis Dunn, Booz Allen Hamilton - What is Happening Abroad
• Petrouschka Werther & Birgül Sönmez Dutch Ministry of Transportation - Kilometer Pricing in the Netherlands
• Jennifer Ogle, Georgia Tech - Commute Atlanta Study
• James Whitty, Oregon DOT - Road User Fee Pilot Program

During the lunchtime panel, Randy Pozdena & Matthew Kitchen--participants from PSRC's Traffic Choices study--discussed their personal experiences with road charging.

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.
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Details of the Deal

Submitted by Paul Ellis

A $7 billion roads package for King, Snohomish and Pierce counties is finally ready for the approval of the region’s voters. It will be combined with Sound Transit's $10.8 billion light rail, bus and commuter rail package in a single question on this November’s ballot.

The Regional Transportation Investment District (RTID) chaired by Pierce County Councilmember Shawn Bunney approved the final roads package last week after some tense negotiations in which elected officials and environmentalists compromised over the controversial Cross-Base Highway near Fort Lewis. RAMP has been and remains a staunch advocate for this critical “missing link” in the regional highway network, linking Spanaway and Frederickson to Interstate 5. The approved package allocates $427 million on interchange and nearby road projects, including at least $10 million for environmental work; however, the crucial center of the project can't be started until after talks with a mediator in 2009--and after another $200 million is found to complete the project.

Sound Transit is proposing a 50-mile light-rail-expansion to the Tacoma Dome in the south, near Mill Creek in the north and Redmond to the east by 2027—building on the 19 miles currently underway. The package also includes 11,200 new parking stalls, 7 new/improved Sounder Commuter rail stations, and enhanced bus and commuter rail service.

The capital costs of the transit improvements is currently estimated at $10.8 billion. The transit part of the package would boost the sales tax by a nickel per $10 purchase, which officials estimate would run about $125 a year for a typical household.

The roads portion of the package would mainly pay for highway lanes that can't be funded through gas taxes alone. The adopted package retains SR-167 as the marquee investment in Pierce County and allocates funding for the Cross-Base Highway. Other Pierce County improvements to be funded through this package include improvements to SR-410/SR-162, enhanced access to Tacoma Mall, and non-motorized improvements.

The road improvements would be funded by a sales-tax increase of 1 cent per $10 purchase and an annual car-tab tax of $80 per $10,000 of vehicle value. The capital cost of the roads package is $7.0 billion in 2006 dollars.

The Gig Harbor Peninsula and areas of Pierce County beyond Orting are outside the Sound Transit and RTID districts and will be exempted from taxes and fees that will be levied if the combined package is approved by the region’s voters.

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.

Cross-Base Salvaged As Regional Roads Plan Moves Forward

Submitted by Paul Ellis

The county councils for Pierce, King and Snohomish counties approved the roads portion of a $17.7 billion package last Friday. The resulting Roads & Transit plan is a new approach to transportation--it marries transit and highway investments to create the first integrated transportation system for the entire Puget Sound region.

Last-minute negotiations over the Cross-Base Highway--long a project supported by RAMP--threatened to pit environmentalists throughout the region against the joint ballot measure, but all-night talks resulted in a proposal that most environmentalists will not oppose, according to Bill LaBorde of Environment Washington.

All three elected bodies must now adopt ordinances to put the measure on the ballot in November.

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.