Overview

Governance of transportation in Central Puget Sound is split among six main agencies divided by sub-region and in some instance, mode. However, all told, in the four main counties of the region there are 128 different government entities with some responsibility for transportation planning and/or policy. Given our serious mobility problems and slow - some would say glacial - pace of decision-making on transportation, it is clear this has become a case of "too many cooks in the kitchen." A single point of accountability in regional transportation governance is necessary.

In 2006, after widespread recognition of this problem, former Seattle mayor Norm Rice and wireless technology executive John Stanton were tapped by Governor Chris Gregoire to lead a commission tasked with finding workable solutions to the region's transportation governance woes. Cascadia Center contributed to the commission's work by sharing reports from other regions (Vancouver, B.C., San Diego, Calif., and Denver, Colo.) that have either changed their transportation governance structure, passed a major regional transportation tax package, or both. We also contributed substantial research on regional transportation governance, drawn from public forums and a working group we organized.

"Regional Transportation Commission Final Report," Regional Transportation Commission (of Puget Sound), Dec. 31, 2006.

Given the importance of the issue to the region, once debate began in 2006, it did not take long for broad-based bipartisan support to emerge for a legislative measure that was strongly supported by a range of groups, including AAA of Washington and The Washington Roundtable. Despite the bipartisan work of State Senator Ed Murray and State Representatives Fred Jarrett and Deb Eddy (a former Cascadia staff member), fierce opposition from Sound Transit leaders stopped the bill in the 2007 legislative session. Remember, we do not lobby, so our role in these legislative developments is necessarily limited to education.

"State Transport System Needs Accountability, Investment" Tom Till, Bruce Agnew, Cascadia Center For Regional Development, 4/13/07.

People in Puget Sound want politicians to solve the traffic congestion problem. They have supported two statewide gas-tax packages since 2003. While other regions fund transportation with a mix of public and private funding, our state has been reluctant to embrace such partnerships and tolling.
Elected leaders are gun shy about too much talk of new tolls, except for those on the 520 bridge. Politicians risk being accused of bait and switch, however, if they promise to complete all the projects without the help of tolls.

A new report to the state calls for tolls on SR 520 and I-90, sooner rather than later, and a statewide system of toll facilities.

...In its final report, the Rice-Stanton Commission observed Puget Sound's transportation system needs to be "structurally re-knit at the regional level" with a super-agency to plan, prioritize and fund road and transit projects, relying not only on tax increases but also on user fees, tolls and fares. Related state legislation for an empowered regional transportation commission, sponsored by long-time transportation reform advocate Sen. Ed Murray, is pending. It could fail to pass this session, but its imperative will remain. The imperative is ensuring that what we buy actually delivers improvements in commuter convenience and real traffic congestion relief. This is the road ahead. It's time to get off the rollercoaster and get moving.

Transportation Governance Policy

Cascadia Center traveled down a deliberative path before arriving at the conclusion that regional governance is needed to improve the planning, prioritizing and funding of transportation projects in Puget Sound. In September 2004, we convened major stakeholders in the Transportation Working Group to cooperatively explore how best to boost regional mobility in the near- and long-term. The final recommendations of the TWG have played a major role in influencing transportation policy and the ongoing transportation debate at the state and Puget Sound regional levels.

The Transportation Working Group was a natural outgrowth of some of our earlier work. In 2003, Cascadia Center re-energized regional thinking on future transportation needs by publishing a book titled, "How Do We Get There From Here?"

"Transportation Working Group Recommendations," Transportation Working Group, Cascadia Center For Regional Development, 2/15/05.

Transportation Working Group background, members, and resource book.

"How Do We Get There From Here? A Transportation Future For The Puget Sound Region," Bruce Agnew & Bruce Chapman, Cascadia Center For Regional Development, 2003. View the video, as aired on Seattle Channel, 5/20/05.

Perspectives On Regional Transportation Governance For Puget Sound

"Don't Bury Streamlined Transportation Planning, editorial, Everett Herald, 3/29/07.

"Mobility, We Need You," editorial, Seattle Times, 3/18/07.

The central Puget Sound area needs a new transportation agency - not to transport things, but to decide them. The clearest vision of this is Sen. Ed Murray's bill, SB 5803, which was passed out of the Senate March 12. The bill would create the Regional Transportation Commission to plan and approve the financing of "mobility projects of regional significance" in King, Snohomish, Pierce and Kitsap counties....What gets built is decided by a competitive duck-shoot...The result has been too little invested in mobility...the new agency would have eight directors elected by the people from geographic districts, plus one each appointed by governments in each of the four counties.

...This is not a partisan bill. Eastside Republican John Stanton is for the bill. So is Seattle Democrat Norm Rice. Rep. Fred Jarrett, R-Mercer Island, would like to make some changes in the details of the bill, but supports its central idea. That idea is an agency responsible for mobility, and its time is here.

"Peaches To Cream, A New Transit Idea," James Vesely, Seattle Times, 3/18/07.

...quietly, the professional thinkers on regional and transportation matters are coming to believe our current system cannot absorb the number of political decisions needed to fix roads and rail. Of the 128 current agencies in the four-county Puget Sound region, many would come under the umbrella of a single authorizing agency...Opposition to the conclusions of the governor's task force headed by Eastsider John Stanton and former Seattle Mayor Norm Rice comes from today's political fortresses. Some would call them silos. I call them castles and moats...No region emerging into the 21st century with so much going for it as ours can compete if projects are endlessly delayed because of local tribal influences.

"Who's In Charge? Coordinating Puget Sound Regional Transportation, Slade Gorton, Seattle Times, 2/16/07.

"Thanks, Legislature, For Spurring Action On Regional Transportation, Slade Gorton, Dave Earling (Cascadia Center), Mike Vaska, Seattle Times, 4/4/06.