Solid Proposition Deserves Approval
At their best, politicians play hard, play smart and win. At their worst, they pout on the sidelines and boo the players on the field.
Consider, for instance, the Washington state Legislature’s battle to improve congested, potholed roads.
Motorists here and around the state will get needed help, if voters say yes next fall to a plan the Legislature approved last week.
However, voters should brace themselves for a chorus of boos.
Here is the heresy that annoys the critics: Republicans proved it’s possible to find money for significant highway improvements without raising taxes. In fact, they cut the tax on autos. A robust economy, combined with a redirection of auto taxes to transportation, made this possible. Improvement of clogged roads should help keep the economy robust and tax revenues strong.
Next year, the Republicans hope to explore yet another heresy: privatization, one of several innovations that could help save big bucks in the rule-bound labyrinth of the state Transportation Department. A recent audit found the department’s construction costs per mile are up to 80 percent higher than the costs in states with a similar amount of roads. The fight for efficiency should be central, as Republicans keep their promise to follow this year’s short-range program with a long-term transportation fix.
The two mindsets in this battle are represented by the chairs of the Senate and House transportation committees:
Sen. Gene Prince, R-Thornton, spent the session on the sidelines. He wanted a gas tax increase, as did his old friend from the other party, Gov. Gary Locke. But with a fat surplus in the state treasury, legislators simply refused to raise taxes. Prince should have joined his party’s work on the alternative, but he balked. So, this powerful, respected committee chairman was out of the game, unable to fight for more funds for his region, Eastern Washington.
Rep. Karen Schmidt, R-Bainbridge Island, wound up in the driver’s seat. She went to work for frustrated commuters, as well as business interests who warn that congestion threatens commercial freight and thus the state’s economically crucial shipping, including trade with the Pacific Rim.
Schmidt says she didn’t merely want to drop money into the transportation department’s complex fund-distribution formulas, which trickle small sums into a zillion different pots of money. Instead, she earmarked some of the funds by project, providing enough actually to fix the worst bottlenecks in the state. Some have called this pork, but Schmidt had a higher purpose in mind: finding a politically viable package that would fix bad roads.
Did it work? Consider the outcome for Spokane. It’s huge: $40 million to widen I-90 in the Valley, from Sprague to Argonne; additional sums to widen I-90 from Argonne to Sullivan; $6 million to build the Evergreen Interchange; $6.6 million to improve Highway 395 north of Spokane. New freight mobility grants will fix a slide-prone area that often closes Snoqualmie Pass, and can fund the separation of auto traffic from train traffic at Barker, Evergreen and Park roads in the Spokane Valley.
Spokane County also will get some of the $370 million Schmidt provided to cities and counties for their extensive road woes.
This long list of funded local projects rightly was given a higher priority than the North-South freeway. Still, as interim relief for Spokane’s north-south congestion, Schmidt also provided funds to plan a beltway. The North-South freeway won’t be built for decades, even if the $2 billion needed to pay for it can be found.
The boo-birds are mistaken. The Legislature produced a good transportation package and Spokane motorists should hope voters approve it in the fall.
, DataTimes The following fields overflowed: CREDIT = John Webster/For the editorial board