The voters of Snohomish, King and Pierce counties have turned down Proposition One on roads and transit. The question will be, what’s next? The Cascadia Center offers the following ideas on regional transportation, to help deliver congestion relief and safety sooner rather than later, at an affordable price, while cutting greenhouse gas emissions and U.S. dependence on foreign oil. Key Read More ›
Cascadia Center For Regional Development November 5, 2008 ON NOVEMBER 4, 2008, Puget Sound voters approved Proposition One, a ballot measure that increases the sales tax to pay for extension of the region’s starter system of Sound Transit light rail, and which adds Sound Transit express bus and commuter train service. The projected cost is $17.9 billion and the light Read More ›
State transportation leaders suddenly find themselves struggling with a $1.5 billion shortfall in anticipated federal and state gas tax revenues. This shortfall, primarily due to improving fuel economy in our motor vehicles, has far-reaching implications. Today’s debate in the Puget Sound region is whether to build more roads, or expand our transit system, or do both. But the truth is Read More ›
This article, published by the Tacoma News Tribune, mentions Discovery Institute Fellow Bruce Agnew: That prompted a blog commentary by Cascadia Center Director Bruce Agnew, about the extensive range of strategies the region will need to solve its transporation problems. The rest of the article can be found here.
Approaching 2008, tolling has entered the mainstream and begun to influence transportation decisions throughout the country. At the same time – as Forbes magazine notes – transponder technology is enabling higher-speed, automated “open road” tolling, foreshadowing an eventual end to the era of tollbooths. Recent news reports underscore the increased momentum for tolling – although often the pathway to implementation Read More ›
The shocking collapse of the Minneapolis Interstate 35W bridge will no doubt aid the campaign for the multibillion-dollar roads-and-transit package facing central Puget Sound voters in November. Yet two crucial transportation projects relevant to the Minnesota tragedy are partially on hold — replacement of the central waterfront section of Alaska Way Viaduct on State Route 99, and full funding for Read More ›
The catastrophic collapse yesterday of a worn down, 40-year-old, 1,900-foot-long bridge with a single steel arch at its center, spanning Interstate 35W across the Mississippi River in Minneapolis had as of this morning resulted in four deaths, up to 30 people unaccounted for, and at least 79 more injured – some quite severely. The fatality toll is likely to grow. Read More ›
This article, published Crosscut, mentions the Cascadia Center of Discovery Institute: An ad-hoc group, including Bruce Agnew of the Discovery Institute’s Cascadia Center and economist Glenn Pascall, are talking about a tolled bypass tunnel under downtown that would obviate the need for replacing the earthquake-vulnerable Alaskan Way Viaduct. The rest of the article can be found here.