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.

State Budget Round-Up

Submitted by Paul Ellis

Kudos to The News Tribune, which today publicized highlights of the $7.5 billion Washington State transportation budget for 2007-09:

• Earmarks $199 million to continue building car-pool lanes on I-5 from the Tacoma Mall to Fife and to rebuild the Nalley Valley Viaduct at SR-16--most work will be done between 2009 and 2013 at a total cost of $1.4 billion;
• Appropriates the final $142 million of the $849 million for the second Tacoma Narrows Bridge;
• Sets up a $5 million line of credit in case first-year tolls on the new bridge don’t raise enough money to make loan payments;
• Allocates half of the $25 million to widen SR-161 (North Meridian) from Jovita Boulevard to 24th St.--the rest of this work will be done in the 2009-11 budget cycle;
• Identifies $52.3 million for the Point Defiance Bypass, a project that will reroute Amtrak and freight railroad tracks through South Tacoma into the Port of Tacoma instead of around the park;
• Gives $3.7 million to Sound Transit to expand Sounder commuter rail parking in Puyallup, Sumner and Auburn;
• Reauthorizes $2 million for the LeMay Car Museum;
• Appropriates $7 million of the $15 million needed to replace the Puyallup River Bridge on SR-162;
• Designates $665,000 of the $4 million needed to build a rest area in Elbe on SR-7;
• Allocates $6.5 million to repave SR-7 between the Eatonville Cutoff Road and SR-507;
• Funds cameras in construction zones;
• Sets a $2.8 billion limit on how much the state will spend to replace Seattle’s Alaskan Way Viaduct;
• Appropriates $132 million for the extension of SR-167 between the Port of Tacoma and Puyallup, with $40 million of that money dependant upon a container tax or port-related fee of some sort;
• Sets aside $19 million toward the proposed Cross-Base Highway (SR-704) between I-5 and Frederickson;
• Allows a 2.5 percent increase in ferry fares next month, then freezes fares until Sept. 1, 2009, while a fare study is conducted;
• Lends $3.9 million to the Regional Transportation Investment District in Pierce, King and Snohomish counties for the joint election in November;
• Completes funding for the “HOT” lane program on SR-167 for a 9-mile stretch between Auburn and Renton.

Most of these expenditures were supported by RAMP this session--all should be familiar to RAMP participants.

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.

Will RTID Drop the Cross-Base Highway?

Submitted by Paul Ellis

The News Tribune will report tomorrow that RTID Chair Shawn Bunney is considering removal of that segment of the Cross-Base Highway that crosses the military bases from November's Roads & Transit package.

Bunney's working proposal would fund improvements to Interstate 5 at the Thorne Lane intersection (comprising nearly 60% of the total project cost) on the west side of the project and accelerate funding for improvements on the east side of the project, primarily to 176th St. E. and Canyon Rd. What Bunney calls the "controversial middle portion" of the project would be left "to resolve at a later date". Bunney characterizes himself as a staunch supporter of the project, no matter how the package ultimately presented to voters turns out.

Meanwhile, the Washington State Department of Transportation is about to release a cost/benefit analysis of the Cross-Base Highway recently conducted by HDR/HLB. This analysis compares building the highway to widening of SR-7 and to enhancing transit services in terms of impacts upon congestion, safety, and emissions reduction. Look for more details in an upcoming post.

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.

Invitation to RAMP Participants

The Puget Sound Regional Council invites RAMP participants to save the date for a workshop called "The Future of Transportation Finance - Lessons from Road Charging Experiments":

Wednesday, June 20th
9:00 a.m. - 3:00 p.m.
Washington Athletic Club (1325 Sixth Ave., Seattle)
Cost is $30 per person; lunch is included

Join experts and participants in road charging projects in a workshop reviewing results and lessons learned.

Local Option Car Tax Approved

Submitted by Paul Ellis

Governor Christine Gregoire gave Washington cities and counties the authority Friday to collect a $20 annual fee on vehicle registrations without a public vote, replacing a similar tax that was repealed by voters in 2002.

Since 2003, cities and counties have had authority to collect as much as $100 a year from a local car tax that wins public approval at the ballot box, but to date no local jurisdiction has pursued that option. Voters last fall turned down Tacoma’s request for a property tax increase to raise $48 million for street repairs over six years. HB1858 lets a county council or a city council levy a $20 fee without voter approval.

The signing upset professional initiative promoter Tim Eyman, who crashed the signing ceremony to accuse Gregoire and the Legislature of ignoring the wishes of the people. Eyman led the initiative drive that voters passed in 2002 (I-776).

Pierce, King and Snohomish counties and the cities within its borders can’t impose the $20 fee until after May 22, 2008--a delay designed to let the Roads & Transit Plan go to voters first.
After that date, HB 1858 gives the three county councils first crack at deciding whether to go with a countywide car tax; if a county council opts not to impose the annual fee, each city council could then make its own decision.

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.

Ladenburg Reiterates Top-Level Support for SR-704

Submitted by Paul Ellis

At this month's RAMP meeting (earlier today), Pierce County Executive and RAMP Co-Chair John Ladenburg reiterated the crucial importance of SR-704--the Cross-Base Highway--in the Roads & Transit package.

"If the Regional Transportation Investment District proposes a package that leaves out Cross-Base," Ladenburg told RAMP participants, "then I'll publicly come out against passage of the ballot issue." Rumors have been circulating that some members of the RTID Board are soft on the project and may propose its omission during their meeting tomorrow morning.

Participants also heard that an economic analysis of the SR-704 project--like those conducted for SR-167 and the Alaskan Way Viaduct--has been completed and will be released by WSDOT next week.

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.

The Road Ahead

Submitted by Paul Ellis

Other than the long-awaited opening of the second Narrows Bridge (or, arguably, the ongoing rebuild of I-5 through the middle of Tacoma), the biggest transportation issue this year will be the integrated Roads & Transit vote on the November ballot. This referendum will have a crucial impact upon regional transportation funding for years to come.

Here's the schedule ahead for how the package will be finalized and presented:

□ January-April 2007:
√ RTID gathers public input on draft plan
√ RTID & Sound Transit continue integrating road and transit plans
□ Late spring 2007: RTID & Sound Transit finalize plans
□ Summer 2007: County councils vote to place road plan on ballot
□ November 2007: Public votes on Roads & Transit 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.

Will Tolling Go Wireless?

Submitted by Paul Ellis

Decaying roads. Rising traffic congestion. Voters distrustful of government and leery about increased gas taxes. Neil Peirce of The Washington Post recently looked at these problems with transportation funding nationwide and suggested that urban areas consider deployment of tolling as a funding mechanism.

RAMP supports the recommendations of the Washington Transportation Commission in its 2006 Comprehensive Tolling Study and believes that the state should use tolling to encourage effective use of the transportation system through congestion management as well as to provide a supplementary source of transportation funding. RAMP further contends that tolling represents the most direct way to charge system users for the cost of the highway system without singling out one specific class of user.

Always a visionary, Peirce goes even further, citing the recommendation of Robin Chase, CEO of Massachusetts-based Meadow Networks, that governments should abandon gas taxes entirely and shift to wireless technology:

A small, low-cost computer on board every vehicle would report (in real time) miles actually traveled, allowing a realistic government user charge. Fees could be adjusted for roadway congestion pricing (premiums to travel on peak roads at peak times), by wear and tear related to vehicle weight and footprint, and by the vehicle's emissions (a carbon tax to encourage vehicles with reduced greenhouse gas emissions).

Science fiction? Not really--in Britain, Transport Secretary Alistair Darling and others have already proposed that automobiles be equipped with onboard equipment to track their use, with drivers paying a higher charge for operation in congested places and at peak times. Closer to home, the Oregon Road User Fee Task Force has determined how such a tax might be calculated and collected; at the task force's request, researchers have developed technology that can distinguish miles driven in Oregon from those driven elsewhere, then allow a mileage tax to be calculated and paid at the pump in place of the state gas tax.

The technical issues are minimal compared with the administrative issues, and especially with tough policy questions about privacy, equity and the environment; nevertheless, the chronic and urgent need for additional sources for transportation funding will undoubtedly leave no stone unturned.

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.

Legislative Wrap-Up (2007 Session)

Submitted by Paul Ellis

The Washington State Legislature's 2007 Session is over, and the dust is just beginning to settle. Today we'll attempt to survey the aftermath with assistance from Bob Gee, contract lobbyist for the Tacoma-Pierce County Chamber, and Mike Shaw, a lobbyist for Pierce County government.

The transportation budget adopted by state lawmakers keeps all Pierce County projects on schedule, despite the $2 billion increase in estimated costs over 2006. It increases funding for the SR-520 bridge and restores projects slated for delay to their original schedules. One such project in Pierce County--the SR-162/Puyallup River Bridge replacement--was scheduled for delay as the Session began but ultimately ended up accelerated by two years.

Senator Ed Murray’s regional governance bill (SB5803), which RAMP opposed, stalled in the Senate but can be resurrected next Session. Passage of that bill this year would have forced a new vote on funding for major projects. Instead, legislators gave the nod to HB1396, which authorized an integrated roads and transit package, allowing the region's voters to approve the Sound Transit and Regional Transportation Investment District (RTID) packages with just one vote. RAMP supported this approach.

SB5207, introduced and advocated by Senate Transportation Chair Senator Mary Margaret Haugen, would have imposed a new tax on freight containers coming through Washington's ports--a measure RAMP opposed. Thanks in large part to the efforts of the Chamber in concert with the Port of Tacoma and other stakeholders, the amended bill sent to the Governor still mentions the container tax but omits any specific funding and the previous intent language. The bill now creates a Freight Congestion Relief Account and directs the Joint Transportation Committee (JTC) to study funding mechanisms for freight infrastructure improvements, with a report due back to the Legislature by the start of the 2008 Session. One of the carrots dangling in the anticipated results of the study will be $188 million to extend 167 to the Port of Tacoma.

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.

One Vote Shall Rule

Submitted by Paul Ellis

On Tuesday, the Washington State Legislature approved a key bill that will keep the Roads & Transit measure moving to the ballot in November. HB1396 passed the Senate on a vote of 44-4, having earlier passed the House 96-1. The bill simplifies the ballot measure, presenting voters with a single question on which to vote.

The single-ballot legislation enables voters throughout the region to vote on an integrated package, eliminating the previous framework under which separate Sound Transit and Regional Transportation Investment District (RTID) packages would be presented. The legislation effectively requires that voters now have to pass both packages for either to take effect.

Under the bill’s improved framework, votes on a single Roads & Transit ballot measure will be counted once within the Sound Transit District and once within the RTID District, which extends farther north into Snohomish County. The measure will take effect if it passes in both districts. The area that falls outside the Sound Transit district will only pay for the roads projects.

Extensive public input and surveys show that people want an integrated and coordinated plan that makes improvements to the region's transportation system. The integrated ballot measure was supported by RAMP but opposed by the Sierra Club.

The legislation now moves forward for action by Governor Christine Gregoire.

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.

Invitation to RAMP Participants

Faster Freight – Cleaner Air Puget Sound is a showcase for solutions and resources that can improve operations within the goods movement industry and reduce air emissions.

Hosted by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, the Puget Sound Clean Air Agency, Port of Seattle, Port of Tacoma and Washington State Department of Transportation, the conference will take place on May 16th at the Bell Harbor International Conference Center in Seattle. Panels will present industry and government leaders discussing ways to facilitate faster freight and cleaner air.

To register, visit the event's website.

Sierra Club Letter Blasts RTID Plan

Submitted by Paul Ellis

A recent post on this blog chronicled the Sierra Club's over-the-top rhetoric in opposing inclusion of any new road projects in the regional Roads & Transit ballot proposition that will be submitted to voters this November. In a recent letter to Sound Transit Chair John Ladenburg (who is also the Co-Chair for RAMP), the Seattle chapter of the Sierra Club says it will not support the draft proposal now under consideration.

The group's list of problems with the draft package is a long one, including project selection, ballot structure and the revenue sources currently identified to pay for the project. The Sierra Club opines that user taxes--including a new local gas tax--make the most sense for the plan.

The letter concludes with a scathing assessment of the draft package and a recommendation that transit improvements be presented for voter approval independently road projects. "The RTID package contains inappropriate projects and is fraught with structural defects that require changes in the authorizing legislation," the Sierra Club contends. "We do support allowing Sound Transit to proceed separately to the November 2007 ballot."

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.

"Highway 167 plan packs major economic punch"

Submitted by Paul Ellis

Kudos to The News Tribune for Sunday's editorial supporting SR-167's construction as part of the upcoming Roads & Transit package.

The piece offers some well-phrased observations--based upon the economic analysis recently released by WSDOT--about the benefits of the project to long-range job growth in the region:

By 2025, additional port business could create 79,000 new jobs — more than the number of Washington workers employed by Boeing...The Alaskan Way Viaduct and Highway 520 bridge projects can boast bigger safety and congestion-relief benefits, but can’t generate freight growth on the scale that the Highway 167 extension could.

As this blog has observed previously, SR-167 is the South Sound's "mega project"; this recognition by the press will help to make that case with the larger community.

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.

Step It Up!--the Rhetoric, Anyway

Submitted by Paul Ellis

The silliness continues from the Sierra Club as its staff deploys over-the-top invective in support of the group's Step It Up! campaign. They're kicking off the drive, evidently, by stepping up the rhetoric.

In an Earth Day guest editorial in The Seattle Times, Aaron Robins and Tim Gould of the Sierra Club's Cascade Chapter describe the Regional Transportation Investment District's Blueprint for Progress proposal as "an Eisenhower-era roads package that drives us the wrong way on climate change impacts and community planning"; having construction of any new roads "shackled at the ballot to the Sound Transit Phase 2 proposal," they contend, is "like trying to lose weight while consuming triple-fudge sundaes with your whole grains--one negates the benefits of the other."

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.

SR-167 Benefits: $10.1 Billion

Submitted by Paul Ellis

Completing SR-167 could fuel job growth to the tune of $10.1 billion over the next 30 years, according to an economic analysis conducted by Berk & Associates and about to be released by the Washington State Department of Transportation (WSDOT).

The direct impact of the full extension, complete with I-5 interchange, is estimated at $940 million. The study estimates the indirect benefits--including economic development opportunities--to be even bigger, primarily from four additional areas of improvement:

• Operational support for greater volumes of container traffic through the Port of Tacoma;


• More efficient use of industrial land in the Puyallup Valley;


• Greater connectivity between Pierce County's urban centers--Tacoma and fast-growing cities like Sumner and Puyallup;


• Avoiding public investment in improvements to surface streets that will become overburdened if the highway is not completed.

The economic analysis is one of several assigned to Berk & Associates in preparation for public discussion over the array of projects recommended by the Regional Transportation Investment District (RTID) for voter approval in November. The consultants also completed an economic analysis of the Alaskan Way Viaduct earlier this year.

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.

Pierce County's "Mega Project"

Submitted by Paul Ellis

Seattle's arguments over the Viaduct and, to a lesser extent, SR-520 has taken up most of the "air time" thus far during the 2007 Legislative Session. RAMP's position is that SR-167--Pierce County's mega project--is equally important to the growth of the Puget Sound region and should have the same rank in the State's transportation pecking order as these two projects.

Insider talk has it that the two King County mega projects are being singled out in budget discussions to benefit from a special reserve management account so that funding can be drawn from other projects, if needed, to complete them or even just to expedite their completion. RAMP has been informed that Representative Dennis Flannigan and Senator Jim Kastama are working to have SR-167 included in that special account, and RAMP supports equal treatment for the Pierce County project.

To do otherwise, some transportation leaders contend, would represent a de facto implementation of the flawed recommendations from the Regional Transportation Commission.

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 Boosts Volume on SR-167 in Olympia

Submitted by Paul Ellis

Participants in RAMP were challenged this morning by Regional Transportation Investment District (RTID) Chair Shawn Bunney to help him boost the visibility of Pierce County's "mega projects"--especially SR-167--with state lawmakers.

As the 2007 Session in Olympia enters the home stretch, Bunney is concerned that lawmaker's struggle to balance the budget--and an inordinate focus on two of King County's projects--will eclipse Pierce County's need to keep dollars flowing south into right-of-way aquisition through the Puyallup Valley. RAMP participants pledged to follow up with messages to their state senators and representatives as lawmakers work on final drafts of legislation and the state budget.

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.