By: Liam Moriarty
KPLU-FM 88.3
June 26, 2008
Link to radio story Web page, with Anchor’s intro and link to MP3 audio recording of story body
Direct MP3 audio link to story body
(story aired on evening drive time news)
FULL TRANSCRIPT
ANCHOR: "Western Washington is coming up tens of billions of dollars short of what's needed for highway improvements, bridge replacements and transit infrastructure. Tolls and more involvement by the private sector were among the solutions discussed at a workshop in Seattle Thursday. KPLU's Liam Moriarty has more...."
REPORTER: "The gathering, sponsored by the non-profit Cascadia Center, brought together public officials, entrepreneurs and policy-makers, wrestling with the region’s growing transportation woes. Democrat Ed Murray is vice-chair of the senate transportation committee in Olympia. He told the group that traditional sources of transportation funding are drying up."
STATE SEN. ED MURRAY: “There is simply not enough revenue to do what we need to do, in this state, anyway, for education, for health care, and to use the amount of money we would need to use - $50 billion - to finance a transportation system" (ed. - in Central Puget Sound).
REPORTER: "Murray says government is likely to move toward more contracts with private sector businesses to build and operate toll highways and transit systems. Other topics included congestion pricing, where tolls are adjusted to be more expensive during peak traffic periods, as well as other ways to use road tolls to manage traffic flow and make more efficient use of existing highways. Liam Moriarty, KPLU News, Seattle."
