Let’s Get Off The Road To Ruin

You get what you pay for. And that, dear voters, is the simple (thud) explanation for the (swerve) appalling condition (BOOM, clunk, rattlerattlerattle) of our roads (hissssss).

Sure, it’s been cute, these last few years, to chant “no new taxes” at our representatives in government. They listened. As a result, funding for street and highway maintenance suffered. Today federal government sends a dwindling amount to state and local road projects. States send a dwindling amount to the cities and counties.

And the cities hear howls of protest from citizens who are sick and tired of the potholes, the ruts, the congestion …

This is nuts. Some inadequate highways, like 395 north of Spokane, kill people. Potholes damage our vehicles. Slow roads hurt Washington’s economy, the most export-dependent state economy in the nation. Exports move on roads to the region’s airports, seaports and rail terminals. Businesses of all kinds rely increasingly on just-in-time delivery of merchandise and supplies; semi-truck traffic therefore is booming. So is automobile traffic; the number of licensed drivers in Washington grew 41 percent in the past 15 years. The state’s population is expected to grow another 32 percent by 2015.

But as things stand now the supply of funds to maintain this state’s roads actually will drop during the next two years. As a result, not one new road expansion project can begin, though many are needed.

What would our cratered roads be like after two more years of neglect?

It is high time for all of us to grow up and accept responsibility. Road maintenance costs money, money comes from taxes, and taxes need to be raised.

It is time for the public to swallow hard, and support the gas-tax increases that Sen. Gene Prince has introduced in the Legislature. This conservative Eastern Washington wheat farmer has assembled a fragile coalition of legislators who recognize, as he does, the crying need to invest in better roads.

A few have groused from the sidelines that Prince should fund new projects by eliminating “waste.” The trouble with that vague old cliche is that legislators have looked for waste every year, for years. And Prince already is fighting waste, ramrodding an audit of transportation programs. But fine-tuning can’t fund the vast amount of work to be done.

Prince’s plan would raise Washington’s gas tax by seven cents per gallon and in addition would allow cities and counties each to add another penny, for their road maintenance needs. The current tax is 17th highest in the nation and was last raised in 1991.

This proposal would generate $2 billion over six years. Among many other things it would pay to widen Highway 395 north of Spokane, build an interchange at Evergreen Road for the new Valley mall and design the North-South freeway. It would patch potholes everywhere and help Seattle’s severe congestion.

Prince did not, to his credit, seek votes by peddling pet projects in lawmakers’ districts. Instead he largely respected priorities of the Transportation Department, which uses objective formulas to assure that each region of the state is treated fairly.

His proposal ought to be passed.

, DataTimes The following fields overflowed: CREDIT = John Webster/For the editorial board