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Home / Washington Business - September/October 2007 / Policy: High stakes for roads and transit |
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Policy: High stakes for roads and transit |
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Written On: September/October 2007 |
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Written By: by Michael Luis |
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With a vote this November, transportation agencies are hoping to go three-for-three on major funding increases. After two statewide gas tax increases, voters will decide whether to provide additional billions to repair and expand highways in the central Puget Sound region. And this time, the package comes with even more dollars to expand public transit. Altogether, November’s Roads and Transit ballot measure will raise $17.8 billion, aiming to alleviate the perennial number one problem in the state.
Roads and Transit differs from past transportation funding packages in two important ways.
First, the highway taxes and projects are confined to the Regional Transportation Improvement District (RTID), which lies entirely within King, Pierce and Snohomish counties. For the first time we’re tackling state highways on a strictly regional basis.
Second, the roads package appears on a single ballot question with a companion measure to fund the next phase of Sound Transit. The road and transit pieces will pass or fail together.
There is a lot at stake in the November election, and supporters are cautiously optimistic. Stuart Elway, of Elway Research, polled on the question in June and found a majority of voters would support the measure. "This looks like a viable solution to a problem the voters have long wanted addressed," he said. "If credible opposition mounts and people start to really think about the projects and what $17 billion is, then support may erode."
If the measure fails, the RTID disappears and the roads portion reverts to the individual counties. To Rep. Fred Jarrett, R-Mercer Island, a longtime supporter of transportation funding, trying to coordinate individual county freeway plans would be a bad idea. "If Roads and Transit fails, there is no good second choice," he said.
A five-year trip to the ballot
Transportation funding in the state has always faced a dilemma. The biggest and most expensive problems are in the Puget Sound area, but tax sensitivity around the state has made it hard to raise statewide taxes enough to really make a dent.
The Legislature made its first stab at this problem by creating the RTID in 2002. This new creature, governed by three county councils, would be authorized to raise taxes on a regional basis to fund regional priorities. The new organization began its work in earnest in 2003, but had difficulty finding a clear path to public support for a major tax increase.
Meanwhile, the Legislature adopted the "Nickel" package of highway improvements in 2003, funded through a five-cent increase in the state gas tax. The Nickel was followed in 2005 by a phased-in nine-cent gas tax increase, but this time with an important twist. Much of the new "Transportation Partnership" revenue constituted only partial funding for key projects, with the remainder to be funded through the RTID. Now, with really big dollars at stake, the RTID’s mission became more urgent.
The last piece of the puzzle was to tie Sound Transit into the package. There was a strong desire to put both the RTID and Sound Transit packages on the same ballot to leverage the support that roads and transit enjoy within different constituencies. But the fear was that if voters could choose one or the other, both might fail. In 2007, the Legislature adopted language to put both measures into a single ballot question.
Big projects, big money
Even by the normal standards of public works funding, this package is big. Since inflation, operating costs and financing costs come along with any program, nailing down an exact number isn’t easy. Carefully worded brochure language says, "The new Roads and Transit capital investments are creating assets worth approximately $17.8 billion in 2008 dollars." This is divided into two distinct components for both taxes and projects.
RTID road funds: $7 billion. The RTID program fully funds some projects and matches Transportation Partnership funds for others. The new RTID funds come from a sales tax increase of 0.1 percent (one penny on a $10 purchase) and a motor vehicle tax of $80 for every $10,000 in vehicle value.
The key phrase in RTID promotional materials is “choke points.” The program aims to relieve congestion at a series of choke points on major freeways and interchanges. It also funds some long-standing new-capacity projects, like completion of State Route 509 south of SeaTac, expansion of Interstate 405 from Bellevue to Renton and launching of the SR-704 cross-base highway project in Pierce County.
It does not, however, finish funding the region’s two most expensive projects: the Alaskan Way Viaduct and the replacement of the SR-520 bridge. The package includes no new money for the viaduct (funding is now in place only for a replacement viaduct) and the $1 billion it includes for the SR-520 bridge leaves that $5 billion project well short of its funding needs.
Sound Transit: $10.8 billion. While much of the media attention has been focused on the RTID, more money is actually slated to go to Sound Transit. This new revenue will come entirely from a sales tax increase of 0.5 percent (a nickel on a $10 purchase). As with the first phase of Sound Transit, the revenue stream covers both capital cost and system operation and maintenance costs.
The centerpiece of the program is an additional 50 miles of light rail to extend the 19-mile line scheduled to open in 2009. When complete, the lines will run from Lynnwood to the Tacoma Dome, and east to the Overlake area of Redmond. The Sound Transit 2 plan also provides improvements to the agency’s bus rapid transit system.
A unique vote
Voters in the urbanized parts of Pierce, King and Snohomish Counties will have a unique choice before them in November: Two independent plans with just one bubble to fill in. Since the districts—RTID and Sound Transit—are not coterminous, both districts must receive a majority of the votes cast within the district for the measure to pass. Never before have roads and transit projects had their fate linked so closely. They succeed or fail together.
A yes campaign—Keep Washington Rolling—was launched on Aug. 1 and shows a list of endorsers from business, environmental and labor organizations. What is unique in this campaign is the active support of six major environmental groups for a large roads program. Mary McCumber, president of Futurewise, says, “It is nice to be past the roads-versus-transit fight. We need everything to give people choices in how to move. We were underinvesting in roads for so long that much of this is about catch up.”
One environmental group, however, does not share that view. The Cascade Chapter of the Sierra Club has come out in opposition to the roads component, suggesting that it will further contribute to climate change, and has launched an anti-RTID Web site. Further opposition is coming from the other direction. Truth about Traffic, a group linked to the Eastside Transportation Association, has produced a Web site that is highly critical of the transit portions of the measure.
Last bite at the apple
By tackling some long-delayed projects, adding new general-purpose capacity and keeping all dollars within the Puget Sound region, the RTID package represents a very politically appealing roads program. And Sound Transit, despite all its problems, still enjoys substantial public support. The campaign coalition is broad and opposition appears to be narrow.
With all that going for it, if the political heavyweights behind Roads and Transit cannot get it passed, we have to wonder about the gap between the public outcry over safety and mobility problems and the willingness to pay taxes to alleviate them. In many ways, the outcome in November will be less about transportation and more about faith in government. $17.8 billion is a whole lot of money, and voters will need some assurance that it will indeed make a difference in the state’s number-one problem.
The stakes are very high for transportation proponents. The Legislature has provided leaders in the Puget Sound region with an unprecedented opportunity to address major needs, but if Roads and Transit comes up short in November, it may be a long time before that opportunity comes back.
Michael Luis is a public affairs consultant who focuses on housing, land use and infrastructure issues. He can be reached at luisassociates@comcast.net.
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