Nothing To Lose But Bottlenecks

Voters expected real gains for Washington’s troubled transportation system when they approved Referendum 49 this fall. Under a spending proposal developed by the state Transportation Commission, the gains would be tangible indeed.

Here in Spokane, the commission proposes to provide $120 million toward the north-south freeway. The project’s first phase would construct a six-lane artery from the Spokane River to Highway 2 north of town. Depending on details of state and federal funding, construction would take five to 10 years.

The second, more-expensive phase would perfect links between the new freeway and I-90 by adding bridges and interchanges.

If Spokane does secure the state funding in 1999, it then could seek enough federal matching dollars to complete the whole project.

The first phase, alone, would make possible a huge, long-sought improvement in our region’s traffic flow. Important traffic segments - such as heavy trucks carrying trade goods to and from Canada - would gain a fast route through the metropolitan area. This would take pressure off urban streets like Hamilton-Nevada, which presently suffer heavy wear and congestion. As the environmental impact statement for the project has documented, the freeway will reduce air pollution, fuel consumption and traffic accidents.

The state transportation department uses an objective formula to evaluate road projects on a cost-benefit basis. The formula ranks Spokane’s north-south corridor project among the five most compelling bottleneck-relief projects in the state. All five (the others are in the Puget Sound area) would receive funds under the transportation commission’s proposal.

For Spokane, this is tremendous news. The need for a north-south artery has been clear since the 1950s. A 1997 poll found 83 percent of county residents support the project. Now is the time for county commissioners, the city, the business community, neighborhood groups and other local voices to unite in the project’s support. The project’s loose ends, such as concerns at Spokane Community College about campus impacts, are being addressed through positive settlement talks, with state engineers working to mitigate those concerns as they develop designs. The project’s completed $3 million environmental impact study means that impacts and alternative solutions have been thoroughly aired.

Still, this is not a done deal. Gov. Gary Locke and the 1999 Legislature have to be convinced to accept the commission’s plan and carry out the allocation of dollars in an objective, nonpartisan way. If they do so, they can send an important message. Taxpayers - who’ve been skeptical of transportation funding requests - need to be convinced that when they vote in support of better roads they’ll notice the results. The commission’s plan to improve the state’s worst bottlenecks would win some needed public trust.