City Hall
Roads and Transit: It's BAAAAACK
Voters may have rejected the billion roads and transit measure, which included 182 miles of new highways, in 2007, but the road projects in the $17.8 billion proposal have taken on a life of their own.
The Puget Sound Regional Council has resurrected eight roads projects rejected by voters as part of its Transportation 2040 plan, which will direct the region's transportation planning over the next 30 years. Those projects include the Cross Base Highway in Pierce County—opposed by environmentalists because it would traverse the last remaining oak prairie in Western Washington and promote sprawl in rural Pierce County—and expansion of I-405, creating more general-purpose lanes for cars and fueling sprawl on the Eastside.
"A lot of projects we thought were dead are back," says Bill LaBorde, policy director at the Transportation Choices Coalition. The TCC sent a letter to PSRC last year outlining their concerns about Transportation 2040, but did not formally oppose the proposal.
The PSRC's plan includes about $9 billion for road extension and expansion. Roads and Transit included about $8 billion in road projects—a discrepancy that's due mostly to the fact that the PSRC's plan extends over a longer period (30 years, as opposed to 20) and because the scope of some of the projects has changed.
Environmental groups like the Sierra Club opposed roads and transit because of its heavy emphasis on new roads; and Mayor Mike McGinn opposes T2040 for the same reason. "Looking at the list of [PSRC] projects, it occurred to me: I've seen some of these projects before," McGinn said this weekend. "The public voted the projects down, but here they are again—back, like a zombie."
Here's a full list of "zombie" roads projects that have been resurrected by the PSRC:
• SR 167 Extension: $4.4 billion
• Widening of SR 522: $146 million
• Widening of SR 524: $312 million
• SR 704 (Cross Base Highway): $743 million
• Expansion of US 2: $1.5 billion
• Widening of I-405: $360 million
• Extension of SR 509: $891 million
• Expansion of SR 9: $513 million
The Puget Sound Regional Council has resurrected eight roads projects rejected by voters as part of its Transportation 2040 plan, which will direct the region's transportation planning over the next 30 years. Those projects include the Cross Base Highway in Pierce County—opposed by environmentalists because it would traverse the last remaining oak prairie in Western Washington and promote sprawl in rural Pierce County—and expansion of I-405, creating more general-purpose lanes for cars and fueling sprawl on the Eastside.
"A lot of projects we thought were dead are back," says Bill LaBorde, policy director at the Transportation Choices Coalition. The TCC sent a letter to PSRC last year outlining their concerns about Transportation 2040, but did not formally oppose the proposal.
The PSRC's plan includes about $9 billion for road extension and expansion. Roads and Transit included about $8 billion in road projects—a discrepancy that's due mostly to the fact that the PSRC's plan extends over a longer period (30 years, as opposed to 20) and because the scope of some of the projects has changed.
Environmental groups like the Sierra Club opposed roads and transit because of its heavy emphasis on new roads; and Mayor Mike McGinn opposes T2040 for the same reason. "Looking at the list of [PSRC] projects, it occurred to me: I've seen some of these projects before," McGinn said this weekend. "The public voted the projects down, but here they are again—back, like a zombie."
Here's a full list of "zombie" roads projects that have been resurrected by the PSRC:
• SR 167 Extension: $4.4 billion
• Widening of SR 522: $146 million
• Widening of SR 524: $312 million
• SR 704 (Cross Base Highway): $743 million
• Expansion of US 2: $1.5 billion
• Widening of I-405: $360 million
• Extension of SR 509: $891 million
• Expansion of SR 9: $513 million
