Cascadia | Page 43 | Discovery Institute

^{Timothy Renshaw
March 6, 2006
Cascadia}

Seattle and Whistler commuter links are on the wrong transportation track

_{Timothy Renshaw
March 6, 2006
Cascadia}

Rather than dismantling rails people-moving capacity as B.C. has done following the Liberals 2002 decision to kill mandatory passenger service on BC Rail and the subsequent privatization of the provinces railway in 2004, Washington has been sinking millions into freight and passenger rail improvements. That investment, were it to be paralleled in B.C., could yield multifold opportunities to showcase some of the worlds most majestic rail routes to commuters between this province and Washington and, in the longer run, international tourists. Bruce Agnew, program director at Seattles Cascadia Center, has been thumping the soapbox of late about improving rail connections between Seattle and Vancouver. He deserves a round of applause on this side of the border, because those connections now couldnt be much less attractive to train enthusiasts, let alone anyone seeking practical alternatives to navigating chronically clogged highways and border crossings. One four-hour train trip per day between the two booming port cities is, to be polite, inadequate. Its also shortchanging the province on numerous business opportunity fronts. The potential for rail to tap tourism traffic from Seattles booming cruise ship trade alone is huge. Oh, and that 2010 event could also benefit. A lot of people wanting to get to the Vancouver-Whistler Winter Olympic Games will be arriving at the Seattle-Tacoma International Airport. An efficient rail connection from that transportation hub would be an extremely attractive alternative .. Read More ›

^{Brad Warren
March 1, 2006
Cascadia}

Transport Czar or Things as They Are?

_{Brad Warren
March 1, 2006
Cascadia}

As director of the Cascadia regional planning project at Seattles Discovery Institute, (Bruce) Agnew is a leading advocate of a plan that might answer that question and a host of larger concerns. If the plan flies, you might one dayperhaps as soon as 2007phone a new Regional Transportation Accountability Board. This powerful, unifying paymaster would make sure funds are well spent, projects are coordinated and traffic disruptions are minimized. It would oversee a long list of highway, transit, freight and possibly ferry improvements, picking projects for performance, not parochial political advantage. Rather than running these systems itself, it would contract with operators such as King County Metro. To fund all this, it would have the critical authority to levy taxes and highway tolls. We need a single point of accountability, says Agnew. Read More ›

^{Joel Connelly
February 28, 2006
Cascadia}

Holes In Port Security Can Cost Us Dearly

_{Joel Connelly
February 28, 2006
Cascadia}

How much money is proposed for port security grants in President Bush's budget for the coming year? Zero....In a nationwide review, under the Maritime Security Act, the Coast Guard identified $7.4 billion in port security upgrades needed in the next decade. Our congressional delegation and other coastal lawmakers have fought hard to appropriate at least $400 million a year to meet these needs. They managed to get $175 million last year ...money for the ports of New York-Newark, Los Angeles-Long Beach and Seattle-Tacoma was held up by the administration. Money was released only after Murray blocked Senate confirmation of a top presidential appointment. Nor, tellingly, did Homeland Security say a word about West Coast ports -- the real stepchildren of federal neglect. "Fifty percent of freight coming into America comes to West Coast ports. Yet only 20 percent of federal infrastructure money comes here. We are undernourished from the get-go," said Bruce Agnew of the Discovery Institute's Cascadia Center. Read More ›

^{Cascadia Center
February 28, 2006
Cascadia}

Transportation Washington February 2006 Newsletter

_{Cascadia Center
February 28, 2006
Cascadia}

Central Puget Sound One Step Closer to Joint Highway and Transit Plan When it comes to tackling transportation challenges, we at the Cascadia Center have long advocated regional cooperation. And with its rapidly rising population and worsening congestion, Central Puget Sound is especially in need of a coordinated solution—similar to what has already worked in Vancouver, B.C., Denver, and San Read More ›

^{Hon. Sen. Slade Gorton
February 15, 2006
Cascadia}

Who’s In Charge? Coordinating Puget Sound Transportation

_{Hon. Sen. Slade Gorton
February 15, 2006
Cascadia}

WHO’S in charge? That’s the question citizens ask most often in focus groups and front-porch panels on transportation. Two bills in Olympia right now address just that question. Senate Transportation Chairwoman Mary Margaret Haugen and House Transportation Chairman Ed Murray have both proposed bills that would establish study commissions to bring specific proposals back to the 2007 Legislature to consolidate Read More ›

^{Bruce Agnew and Dave Earling
February 12, 2006
Cascadia}

Region Must Take Next Step To Improve Transportation

_{Bruce Agnew and Dave Earling
February 12, 2006
Cascadia}

Many believe Central Puget Sound needs a single regional transportation authority - rather than separate transit, roadway and planning agencies. Both Senate Transportation Chair Mary Margaret Haugen and House Transportation Chair Ed Murray have drafted proposals requiring Puget Sound to get its governmental act together. Both proposals require a short-term study commission to design a long-term, unified transportation governing structure for the region. The two proposals have slight variations, but as with the concept of a matched-up RTID and Sound Transit investment package, they both assert that Puget Sound would benefit from a long-range transportation plan with a single point of accountability. The state has acted; for the next step in transportation, it's the region's turn. Read More ›

^{Discovery Institute
February 2, 2006
Cascadia}

Washington State House and Senate Introduce Passenger Ferry Bills

_{Discovery Institute
February 2, 2006
Cascadia}

Both the House and Senate have introduced Bills in support of passenger only ferry service. For more information on the Bills or to follow their progress visit the Washington State Legislature’s Bill Information Page at http://apps.leg.wa.gov/billinfo/. Copies of the Bills can be downloaded here: House Bill 3270 Senate Bill 6787

^{Discovery Institute
January 31, 2006
Cascadia}

Cascadia Completes Puget Sound Business Journal Op-Ed Series on Infrastructure Deficit

_{Discovery Institute
January 31, 2006
Cascadia}

Deficits make for great newspaper headlines: “U.S. Trade Deficit Continues to Grow” or “Greenspan Warns About Federal Budget Deficit.” Yet one deficitperhaps equal to the others in its impact on our economic health and future prosperityis often minimized or overlooked. It is that of our national and regional infrastructure, from energy to transportation. Discovery’s Cascadia Center has long recognized this Read More ›

^{Jessica Cantelon
January 30, 2006
Cascadia}

B.C. Olympics Can Be a Transportation Catalyst

_{Jessica Cantelon
January 30, 2006
Cascadia}

For years, our Cascadia Center has argued for more cross-border cooperation to expand the international tourism market. For instance, individual ports in the airline and cruise ship industries compete for business. If they were to cooperate -- and jointly market this larger region from Alaska to California, with the Olympics as a catalyst -- airlines and international tourism organizations could better market an international destination with a richer diversity of attractions than simply a single metropolitan area. Multimodal connections and better cooperation between our airports and cruise ship gateways would conveniently allow tourists to enter one gateway and exit another -- similar to the sophisticated network of travel connections and fast border clearances in the European Union. Read More ›

^{Discovery Institute
January 24, 2006
Cascadia}

Cascadia Center’s Earling Testifies Before House and Senate Transportation Committees

_{Discovery Institute
January 24, 2006
Cascadia}

On Wednesday, January 18th, Dave Earling gave testimony in Olympia to both the House and Senate Transportation Committees. He was part of a panel with former Senator Slade Gorton and Mike Vaska. As the Legislature considers action on four pieces of legislation on transportation reform in Puget Sound. Earling spoke in favor of reform and highlighted three projects that the Read More ›