Gov. Gregoire responds to Senate Transportation Committee package

For Immediate Release: April 4, 2005

Gov. Christine Gregoire today thanked Sens. Mary Margaret Haugen and Dan Swecker for their work in developing the Senate Transportation Committee�s proposal for funding major transportation improvements across Washington state.

�The Senate Transportation Committee�s proposal is focused on safety � making our highways and bridges safer for motorists who use them,� Gregoire said. �And they have made a good start in addressing what often seem to be overwhelming needs of our transportation system.�

Senate Transportation Committee Chair Haugen, D-Camano Island, and ranking committee Republican Swecker of Rochester released the panel�s transportation-funding plan at a news conference.

The committee proposal would raise $9.1 billion over 16 years to finance more than 200 highway, bridge and intersection improvements around the state, plus contribute to bus service, park-and-ride lots and other strategies that take cars off the road.

Financing the plan would require a three-cent increase in the state gas tax in 2005, a two-cent increase in 2006, and a 1-cent increase each year for the next 10 years.

Gregoire praised bipartisan support for the committee proposal, saying that transportation cannot become a partisan issue, and that any long-term funding solution must have bipartisan support.

�Unless Democrats and Republicans from both Eastern and Western Washington can agree on a long-term funding plan, there�s no sense in pursuing it,� Gregoire said.

Gregoire noted that the Senate committee proposal provides local governments local-option revenue sources to solve local transportation problems � as well as to partner with the state to help complete major projects such as replacing the Alaskan Way Viaduct in Seattle and the SR 520 bridge over Lake Washington.

�And if Seattle wants to put the Viaduct roadways in a tunnel, so it can open up its waterfront for other uses, the city can use local-option funding sources to pay the extra cost,� Gregoire said.

Still, the governor said she was concerned that the committee proposal does not provide enough funding to complete even the low-cost alternatives for the Viaduct and SR 520 bridge.

�We have to be realistic about what solving our transportation problems is really going to cost,� Gregoire said. �In Washington, D.C., President Bush has made it pretty clear that we won�t be able to rely on federal funding like we did in the past. We easily face costs in excess of $6 billion for mega-projects like replacing the Alaskan Way Viaduct and SR 520 bridge, but the House Republicans� budget includes only $6 billion for mega-projects nationwide. That�s only $6 billion for all 50 states.�

�It�s pretty certain we are going to have to solve our transportation problems in Washington state without much help from the federal government,� Gregoire said. �I�m urging the Legislature to look at tolls and other creative, pay-as-you-go methods to finance major projects like the Viaduct and SR 520 bridge.�

Relying on the gas tax and other transportation sources considered in the past may allow the state to get by in transportation funding, but also may not provide the comprehensive solution the state needs, Gregoire said.

�Getting by isn�t good enough,� Gregoire said, �especially when we all know that our transportation system is the backbone of our state economy.�

The governor noted that the Transportation Committee�s proposal makes progress on other important projects statewide, striking a necessary balance in transportation funding for both Western and Eastern Washington.

�It moves us forward on the Columbia River crossing bridge between Vancouver and Portland, the North Spokane Corridor and fixing Interstate 90 so freight can move safely and efficiently over Snoqualmie Pass,� Gregoire said.

The governor said that while she believes the Senate committee�s proposal is a good start in taking a big step toward solving some tough transportation problems, �the Senate and House now need to join together as partners to make progress in establishing solutions for both state and local transportation systems.�

�If the Legislature can do it, its members can count on me to support their efforts,� Gregoire said.