Moving forward

This editorial recently appeared in the Everett Herald.

“The Puget Sound region has a transportation crisis.” Well, duh.

But as the first of many findings in an excellent report issued last week by a citizen panel on regional transportation, that statement of the obvious sets the stage for figuring out how to solve the crisis.

The Regional Transportation Commission was created this year to evaluate the region’s hodgepodge structure of transportation governance and financing and to recommend something better – something more streamlined and more accountable.

The idea is to begin addressing the region’s monumental transportation challenges by getting our fragmented region on the same page – minimizing turf wars, maximizing efficiencies and coming up with a reasonable way to prioritize an overwhelming list of needed projects.

Citizen representatives from King, Snohomish, Pierce and Kitsap counties have spent three months listening to stakeholders, identifying places where things are broken and discussing possible fixes. They’ve come up with a draft report that is thoughtful and bold. Chief among its recommendations is the creation of a regional agency that would bring a fragmented system under one authority with the power to prioritize, plan and finance regional projects.

For decades, transportation investments have been neglected. Infrastructure has deteriorated. As the population and economy grow, congestion and commuting delays get worse. A smorgasbord of agencies, with sometimes conflicting priorities, have created a transportation system that is inefficient and not well coordinated.

As for financing, the report admits taxes won’t pay for all the region’s needs, so it calls for tapping new sources, including tolls, parking fees and public-private partnerships.

This report should serve as the basis for further discussion on fixing our region’s transportation mess. It mustn’t be cast aside by elected officials and bureaucrats trying to protect their turf.