It’s time to press for highway fixes

For the record, Washington transportation officials estimate the backlog of state highway projects is worth about $50 billion.

That amount dwarfs the paltry few billions that would be raised by either the House ($8.4 billion) or Senate ($9.1 billion) transportation tax proposals that have been introduced in Olympia in the past two weeks.

And since both revenue proposals stretch out over the next several years – four years in the House’s version and 12 in the Senate’s – Washingtonians will be lucky to keep that backlog from growing. Eliminating it is out of the question.

But letting it continue to grow is not a reasonable option if we care about the vitality of our economy.

The Legislature, therefore, must muster the political courage to face the predictable opposition that tax increases generate and send a substantial revenue plan to Gov. Christine Gregoire.

It will be a test for lawmakers in Spokane and the rest of Eastern Washington, even though from $56 million to $100 million in funds toward the billion-dollar-plus North Spokane Corridor is at stake.

Highway construction and maintenance dollars arouse intensely parochial feelings. Knowing most of the spending would take place in the populous Puget Sound area, Eastern Washington motorists are inclined to feel abused. Indeed, Seattle’s Alaska Way viaduct and the Highway 520 floating bridge, which links Bellevue and the east side of Lake Washington to Seattle via the University of Washington campus, are conspicuously demanding projects.

State Rep. Lynn Schindler, an Otis Orchards Republican, says her 4th District constituents have been telling her not to dare to hike the gasoline tax. Schindler and colleagues such as freshman Republican Rep. John Serben of the 6th District have measured the proposals according to how much they would spend in Spokane County.

One answer to those regional irritations would be to pick up part of the expense by imposing tolls on some of the costliest roads – an option that’s also under consideration. It’s naïve, however, to think that spending public dollars on transportation dollars on highways and bridges benefits only the motorists who drive on them.

The flow of vehicular traffic has an immediate effect on commerce and the economy. And, lest we forget, the economy of the Puget Sound area keeps the state afloat, subsidizing state government activities across the state.

Transportation needs in Western Washington are pressing because so many businesses and people are there – buying and selling, working and manufacturing, creating wealth. If nothing is done to relieve the congestion that now chokes Puget Sound corridors, the entire state economy is at risk of suffocation.

It’s awkward to call for tax increases on top of rising gasoline taxes, but there’s no other way to deal with a problem that threatens to hurt the economy in ways that make pump prices look mild.