RTID takes wrong turn with road projects

By Sen. Jim Kastama

Some people might not want to hear this, but the day has arrived where we can no longer afford to build roads simply to ease commutes or improve aesthetics. With state resources increasingly limited, and competition from other nations constantly growing, our transportation spending must focus on projects that provide access to major employers, move freight and create meaningful jobs. Otherwise we’ll just wind up with more traffic jams while we watch top employers and career opportunities move overseas.

The threat from overseas cannot be overstated. Popular movies have taught us to think of many eastern countries as lands of bicycles and ox carts — countries insulated from technology and progress. As I have witnessed myself on a trade mission to Asia last year, that is far from true, and we cling to those outdated stereotypes at our economic peril. For example, China, which recently reported a record monthly trade surplus of $14.5 billion with almost 20 years of near double-digit economic growth, is determined to become the global leader in both quality and production.

To remain competitive, we need to change the way we approach transportation. The Regional Transportation Investment District (RTID), for instance, recently requested that the Washington State Department of Transportation (WSDOT) revise a number of longstanding road projects in Pierce County to be placed before the voters in 2007.

RTID officials would like WSDOT to take hundreds of millions of dollars from some major highways serving prime industrial areas, such as State Route 167, and use them instead to widen roads that lead to bedroom communities, such as the Orting Valley.

The RTID plan for SR 167 calls for merely one lane in each direction from Tacoma to Puyallup, with no access at Interstate 5. In other words, it would be a barely functional highway.

As one of the original authors of the act that created the RTID, I can appreciate efforts to assist people in eastern Pierce County — but not at the economic expense of the entire region. As we’ve learned the hard way with East Meridian on the South Hill, widening congested roads doesn’t necessarily alleviate traffic. Instead, it often attracts even more development and traffic and leads to a worse situation than we had in the first place, with overcrowded schools and inadequate police response times.

That’s clearly the wrong direction. Instead, I suggest a renewed focus on roads that derive sustained economic benefits, such as those that feed the Port of Tacoma and the Frederickson area, the largest industrialized zoned area in Western Washington. Once these highways are constructed, and the backbone of our economy established, then — and only then — do I suggest using precious state dollars elsewhere.

Let’s wake up to this realization and spend our transportation dollars accordingly.

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