I spent most of last Thursday visiting with Members of the State Legislature about transportation issues for South King County.  Besides meeting with our 47th District Legislators (Senator Claudia Kauffman, Rep. Geoff Simpson and Rep. Pat Sullivan), I also met with several other Representatives and Senators from around the State that are on either the House or Senate Transportation Committees.  I also met with many Legislative Assistants, as not all  Legislators were available that day.  The time was interesting, as always, and fairly productive as regards to sharing the financial and policy needs for South King County.  There is actually some money in the Transportation Budget as people are still buying gas and creating gas tax dollars.

Unfortunately, Gas taxes are way down as a result of the Recession and high unemployment.  If there is no job, there is not much of a reason to drive.  With such a shortage of jobs, the need to drive all over to apply for jobs is also way down.  Further, a lot of job seeking can be accomplished via the Internet.  While very good for the environment, less driving is actually bad for transportation because of decreased income.  We are already years behind on necessary projects and, while traffic has dropped a bit, it is still massively congested.

A spot of good news is that currently budgeted projects have come in well under the original estimates.  This is due to the Recession and the fact that starving contractors are coming in as low as they can, likely breaking even in some cases, just to keep their doors open and avoid firing more employees.  This situation is allowing some money to be used for other projects.  This will not last, though.

SE King County has serious issues to contend with as we have very limited ways to get in and out of this area to where the jobs are.  Besides a few back roads, the main routes are limited to Hwy 18, Hwy 516 & Hwy 169.  Hwy 18 needs work from Hobart to I-90.  It also goes the opposite direction that most people in SE King County need to travel to employment centers.  Both Hwy 516 (Kent Kangley) and Hwy 169 (Maple Valley Hwy) are horribly congested.  It is estimated that Hwy 169 will need about $600 Million Dollars to expand it from Maple Valley to Renton.  This is going to be very difficult to find!

On-going with efforts to get funds for expansion of these roads, is a very robust discussion and process to explore enhanced transit and commuter rail options.  I will be reporting much more on these options in the months to come.  Suffice it to say, that it is important to give options other than single occupancy vehicles in the face of declining income for transportation improvements. 

Your Legislators, from our local cities to the Federal level are all trying to get the most “Bang for the Buck” to meet the growing population needs of our area.  Watch for your opportunity to take part in local and regional public meetings to learn more and give your opinion.  Please, please , please take the opportunity to learn first and talk second.  Abusive and demeaning tactics are not constructive during public meetings and, if anything is needed now, it is community collaboration to solve the problem.  There is no free lunch and there is no pot of gold lying somewhere that will magically solve the problem.  Please help!