Cascadia Prospectus

Look for a vigorous public debate soon - involving state lawmakers, Gov. Chris Gregoire and a multitude of opinionators - about regional transportation governance for the central Puget Sound region of Snohomish, King, Pierce and Kitsap counties. The aim behind the concept is to consolidate prioritizing, planning and funding of needed roads and transit improvements to combat gridlock; though some skeptics see darker anti-transit motives, and others are concerned their counties will give more in future taxes than they get back in project funding.

Tacoma News-Tribune editorial page editor David Seago reports today at the paper's "Inside The Editorial Page" blog there's one more sign the dialog is gaining momentum as the legislature heads toward beginning its 2008, 60-day "short session" on January 16. At a public meeting Jan. 9 in Tacoma, former state transportation secretary Doug MacDonald and the former co-chair of a state-appointed Puget Sound regional transportation governance study commision, John Stanton, will make their case for that approach to a Tacoma-area business/government alliance which has been opposed. That's the Regional Access Mobility Partnership, or RAMP - their concerns are outlined in this blog post, among others.

Stanton, the former CEO of Western Wireless, with former Seattle Mayor Norm Rice, co-chaired the state-appointed study commission which issued a final report concluding regional transportation decision-making was needed for central Puget Sound to leapfrog ahead of political turf battles and funding backlogs, and to create a single point of accountability for the tough decisions on what road and transit projects are best for the region. After the defeat of Proposition 1 last fall, MacDonald went public with an op-ed supporting regional transportation decision-making for Puget Sound.

But perhaps the most significant official to warm to the idea is Gov. Gregoire herself. In an earlier blog post, the TNT's Seago related thoughts the governor shared on the subject during a recent meeting with the paper's editorial board. She said she had planned to introduce her own bill this year but would defer to Democratic majority legislators to advance the initiative.

In today's blog post, Seago writes:

The board would be responsible for planning for all regional transit and highway planning and have the authority to impose taxes for construction. Nine members would be directly elected by voters; six would be appointed. A bill implementing the recommendation cleared the state Senate last year but died in the House. New proposals will be filed when the Legislature reconvenes this month. In the wake of Proposition 1's crushing defeat, the governor is likely to lend her support this year.

Another supporter of regional transportation governance for central Puget Sound is Gregoire's fellow Democrat, State Auditor Brian Sonntag, who is from Tacoma and previously served as Pierce County Auditor. In a state performance audit of current Puget Sound transportation management, outside auditors reporting to Sonntag urged a greater emphasis on congestion reduction, serious consideration of a regional decision-making structure to heighten accountability, and much more. Here is a a TNT op-ed by Sonntag based on the audit's findings; and here is the audit, a multi-faceted look at what the Puget Sound region should do to improve transportation mobility.

The RAMP meeting at which Stanton and MacDonald will argue for Puget Sound regional transportation governance is scheduled for 8 a.m. on Wednesday, January 9 at The Port of Tacoma Business Center, 3600 Port of Tacoma Road (directions here). The meeting is open to the public. RAMP officials say they are expecting a robust conversation.

Although they're coming to it with differing perspectives, kudos to both RAMP and the Governor for advancing the dialog on regional transportation decision-making for Puget Sound.

TECHNORATI TAGS: PUGET SOUND, TRANSPORTATION, TRAFFIC CONGESTION, ROADS, TRANSIT, REGIONAL GOVERNANCE, JOHN STANTON, DOUG MACDONALD, RAMP, TACOMA, PIERCE COUNTY, KING COUNTY, SNOHOMISH COUNTY

At least that's what I call our transportation situation--"mess". And the mess now has a glimmer of hope of untangling itself, thanks to private companies that see potential in self-financed commuter rail.

Let's review a bit of history. Trolley lines and street cars, for the most part, were built and maintained with private money. Railroads were built and are still operated by private entities. Maybe it is time to revisit these scenarios and allow private companies to lease and operate commuter rail lines.

It solves the problem of public financing. With precedent set for public ownership and private construction and/or operation (AKA "public-private partnerships"), there is no worry of "selling out" to big developers, or losing public assets.

According to the Seattle Times, a private company wants to develop an Eastside rail link for trains and bikes. It seems like a win-win situation; I figure there must be a catch. Maybe there isn't one. It could be that we have reached a point where the economics of rail do make sense, and private companies see an opportunity to provide services while making a profit.

Let's let them try -- the worst that could happen is that it fails. At least we didn't spend public money to experiment with something that ultimately doesn't work (Monorail, anyone?). The best outcome is that we get a functioning commuter rail service and bike path for free. How bad could that be?

TECHNORATI TAGS: EASTSIDE COMMUTER RAIL, BNSF LINE, PUBLIC-PRIVATE PARTNERSHIPS, SNOHOMISH COUNTY, KING COUNTY, PORT OF SEATTLE

Highway tolls to help raise maintenance and construction funds, and sliding-scale user fees to control peak-hour congestion are spreading across the U.S and creeping forward in central Puget Sound. In a year-end editorial, the Tacoma News Tribune highlighted the success of tolling on the new, second (southbound) Tacoma Narrows bridge (right side in adjacent photo), and the importance of tolling as a future transportation revenue source in Puget Sound:

The greatest challenge facing the growing Puget Sound region is building and repairing transportation infrastructure to keep people and freight moving smoothly. But the region's voters in November soundly rejected Proposition 1, a massive and costly roads-and-transit ballot package that, among other things, would have extended Sound Transit's light-rail system all the way to Tacoma.

Now state lawmakers must devise new approaches, including more emphasis on using highway tolls to pay for road repairs and construction. On the plus side, the new Narrows Bridge opened July 15, on time and under budget. More than 50,000 pedestrians packed the span from end to end for hours. Afterward, commuters marveled at the improved traffic flow. Complaints about the bridge toll dwindled.

Narrows Bridge tolls are $3 for two-axle vehicles without a pre-paid account, $1.75 with an account - they do not vary by time of day or traffic loads, as is the case under so-called "congestion pricing."

Narrows Bridge tolls can be collected on approach at booths off to the side, but there's been a run on electronic, dashboard-installed "Good To Go" transponders, which are read by overhead gantries as cars whiz underneath.

Congestion Pricing Pilot Project In Puget Sound

Also on the regional tolling roster in Puget Sound is a Washington State Department of Transportation pilot project to start later this year on Route 167 in South King County. It will convert the carpool lane in each direction to a High Occupancy and Toll (HOT) lane open to carpoolers (two passengers or more in this case) for free, and to solo drivers for a sliding-scale toll set by real-time levels of road congestion. As for regular commuters on the southbound Narrows Bridge, transponders will be used. The higher peak-hour fees are offset by lower off-peak charges, which may compel shifting of some trips to those hours - or the forgoing of non-essential peak-hour solo driving.

Regional HOT Lane Network Needed On Puget Sound Highways

The SR 167 pilot project is a good first step, but part of what Puget Sound really needs to control traffic congestion as population grows robustly in coming decades is a regional network of HOT lanes on connecting highways; not just a few HOT lanes here and there. In addition, HOT lanes should number at least two in each direction, not one.

The Domino Effect?

Another possible tolling project in Puget Sound could have a domino effect. To qualify for a $138 million Urban Partnerships grant from the feds to help fund the financially-challenged SR 520 bridge rebuild, state legislators must approve tolling for that span. If they do that - as they certainly ought to - it will immediately raise the possibility of also tolling the parallel I-90 bridge across Lake Washington, in order to avoid undue congestion there from motorists seeking to avoid 520 tolls. Tolling these major east-west highways in turn cannot help but promote consideration of tolling our region's congested north-south highways, namely I-5, SR 99, and I-405.

Legislature Seen Likely To Act

With such considerations at top of mind following Prop. 1's defeat, the legislature is expected to develop a tolling bill in the upcoming short session.

An Emerging Policy Priority Across The U.S.

The action on tolling in Washington state comes against a busy national backdrop - and a growing awareness that highway tolling and highway congestion pricing are necessary in many urban regions.

Car drivers aren't the only ones affected; truckers - and consumers - also have a big stake in congestion relief.

In Forbes, logistics expert Robert Malone writes:

There will be increased road congestion in nearly all urban areas in the U.S. in 2008. Delays in commuting and delivery of commercial loads continue to go up, and that means money wasted idling and just-in-time delivery threatened. Many lane miles will have to be added to the U.S. highway system just to keep up with traffic growth. There will be more calls, consequently, for congestion pricing, specifically in dense urban areas.

Congestion pricing just adds one more cost to truckers or those using their services, and that will inevitably be passed on to the consumer....there are not a lot of choices: cut down on delivery (unsatisfactory), build roads (politically complex and expensive), or go congestion pricing and help some and alienate others.

"Congestion Pricing Isn't Going Away"

According to Forbes Small Business:

...congestion pricing isn't going away. U.S. municipalities including Dallas, Miami, Minneapolis, San Diego, and Seattle are expressing interest in the idea. Groups such as the AARP and the National Supermarkets Association back it...Recent studies estimate that traffic jams cost the U.S. economy a whopping $65 billion annually - and the figure is rising. Among the industries hardest hit: trucking, service and repair, wholesale trades, and construction. Gridlock costs New York City $4.6 billion in lost business revenue, estimates the Partnership for New York City, a group of 200 CEOs who support congestion pricing.

The traffic crisis is spreading beyond the largest areas....Adam Madetzke, the owner of Salt City Couriers, says that northbound congestion on I-15 - Utah's most clogged highway - has hampered his delivery business: "During rush hour the heavy traffic drops our profits by 20% to 30%." While it debates congestion pricing, Utah hopes that a new commuter rail system set to open next spring will alleviate the problem....San Diego has been charging commuters a toll on an eight-mile stretch of I-15 since 1998, which lets those who pay use special lanes during peak hours. The charge varies from 50 cents to $8, depending on demand. Since the toll was imposed, usage of express lanes has nearly doubled, and the number of carpools has gone up more than 70%. Denver, Houston, and Minneapolis have similar toll highways....Minneapolis, which has suffered from heavy gridlock since the I-35W bridge collapsed in August, will raise tolls and partner with companies located along the interstate to encourage telecommuting.

14 Miles Of HOT Lanes Coming to Capital Beltway

One big HOT lanes deal announced recently is in the Washington, D.C. region and involves the State of Virginia and private partners. The Washington Business Journal reports that the U.S. Transportation Department, the State of Virginia, Fluor Enterprises, and Australia-based Transurban Group are partnering on a $1.9 billion public-private venture to add two new HOT lanes in each direction and one general use lane on each side of the Capital Beltway between Springfield, Virginia and the Maryland border. Virginia keeps control and oversight of the new HOT lanes while the private partners operate them and collect tolls to pay back a $588 million federal loan and $600 million in private-activity bonds issued on their behalf by the feds. Construction on the new lanes begins this year and is to be completed by 2013.

Pennsylvania's Act 44

Faced with an estimated shortfall of $900 million each year for road and bridge maintenance, Pennsylvania has passed Act 44, which will raise up to $116 billion over 50 years for roads, bridges and transit through new tolls on I-80, toll hikes on the Pennsylvania Turnpike, and the sale of revenue bonds. Turnpike Authority Vice-Chairman Timothy J. Carlson writes in the Philadelphia Inquirer that the added tolls and borrowing may be tough to swallow for some but are the right course - given pressing system needs, high gas prices and pinched pocketbooks.

"Desperate" L.A. Seeks Congestion Pricing On 3 Highways

In the Los Angeles Daily News, staff writer Sue Dolan notes L.A. has submitted a federal grant application for funds to convert HOV, or carpool lanes to HOT lanes on three area freeways, and comments:

Some Californians have long believed in the concept of the free and open road, but with freeway speeds today crawling as slowly as 17 mph by 6 a.m., that free-spirited thinking could soon dead end in Los Angeles. And good riddance. While roads may be free today, they're simply not moving....It's gotten so bad that traffic dictates where we shop, who we date and how we spend our free time. And after grappling with bottlenecks during the week, many commuters feel too worn out on weekends to go anywhere. What a way to live.

But transit officials hope to get certain freeway lanes moving along at 50 mph and say tolls could lead the way. Rates have not yet been set but would vary by the time of day - and solo drivers would pay more to use the lanes. "We're desperate," said Marc Littman, Metro spokesman. "We've reached a tipping point and have to come up with some solutions."

Orange County HOT Lanes More Popular Than Ever

South of L.A. in Orange County, what are perhaps the nation's best-known HOT lanes have become crowded at rush hour despite the costs. So Friday afternoon tolls will rise from $9.25 to $10 between 3 p.m. and 4 p,m, on the eastbound SR 91 Express Lanes connecting Orange and Riverside counties (right). Tolls are substantially lower at other hours, but some motorists are upset nonetheless. The L.A. Times reports:

Express lane officials argue that the toll lanes are too popular, which slows travel for paying customers. By using so-called congestion pricing, they hope to persuade some commuters to travel during cheaper hours....Joel Zlotnik, a spokesman for the Orange County Transportation Authority, which owns and operates the express lanes....(says)...by raising the peak toll, drivers are encouraged to travel during off-peak hours....

The OCTA isn't the only agency in the state to use a sliding fee scale....San Francisco has congestion pricing in place on several roads and is considering a plan similar to London's, under which motorists would be charged for entering the downtown area, or even for entering the city's limits.

...The higher toll rates indicate a demand for extra capacity, said Peter Samuel, who edits a Web-based news service specializing in toll roads. "They need to widen the 91 Freeway and look at a whole range of alternatives, including building a tunnel through the local mountains as was talked about," Samuel said. "The new toll is one of the highest in the country. But if you're reaching the saturation point with traffic, you've got to raise the cost, or otherwise the idea for having toll roads breaks down."

The Times reports Riverside County wants the 91 Express Lanes extended into their territory, as well.

The "Lexus Lanes" Canard

The popularity of the 91 Express Lanes was already clearly evident in 2005, when the Washington Post reported:

...the most important lesson of these California roads -- sometimes derided as elitist, double-taxing "Lexus lanes" -- is that commuters will flock to them in large numbers, regardless of the price....ridership on the Express Lanes has surged -- from 10 million trips in 2003 to 11.2 million last year. (The Reason Foundation's Robert) Poole surmises that commuters view the tolls as "congestion insurance" -- costly, but essential to keep their lives from being lost in traffic. "I don't see any way around it," said Crystal Lee, a Riverside accountant and mother of two. Her ride home on the Express Lanes saves her 10 to 30 minutes, she estimates, and guarantees she'll be home in time to get her daughter to dance class. "I need the time," she said, "more than the money."

The Democratic Leadership Council tackles head-on the class- and income-based "Lexus Lanes" claim.

...some oppose (HOT lanes) on equity grounds, claiming they would represent "Lexus Lanes" where commuters who can afford tolls receive an unfair advantage over their less-affluent fellow citizens (this is actually an argument against any toll roads, not just HOT lanes). But studies of HOT lanes have shown that a representative mix of commuters use them, not just the wealthy. Moreover, commuters in the regular lanes benefit from reduced congestion. And finally, it is low-to-moderate income commuters who most often encounter the kind of work or family emergencies that can be eased by the ability to occasionally buy a quick commute.

Reviewing surveys of Orange County HOT lane users and conducting its own community survey on the upcoming SR 167 HOT lanes pilot project, WSDOT reached similar conclusions.

Forbes Small Business notes:

Despite opposition, congestion pricing may have legs politically. It's a cheap alternative to building new roads, and it can help cities reduce pollution. That makes it a natural for Democrats, with their base among big-city voters.

The Road Ahead, In Cascadia

Here in the Cascadia region including Washington and Oregon, the Seattle region is already instituting tolls and HOT lanes, with more likely to come, as detailed above. Down the road apiece, look for metro Portland to give serious consideration to tolling the replacement for the congested six-lane bridge across the Columbia River on I-5. The Oregonian reported the new 12-lane bridge will include special transit lanes (for either light rail or bus rapid transit), and the preliminary cost estimate is about $4 billion, emphasis on "preliminary." The feds want to help and are encouraging tolling as part of the funding mix.

U.S. Transportation Secretary Mary Peters visited Portland to endorse the Columbia River (bridge) effort and encourage private sector investment and tolling options. She suggested the federal government might pay as much as 80 percent of the project cost, but that is far from certain.

A Common-Sense Tool To Help Fight Traffic Congestion

The movement toward congestion pricing reflects rational valuation of a scarce commodity, road capacity. All of us in urban regions will have to adapt sooner or later. Businesses such as Microsoft Corp. have helped pioneer amenity-drenched private bus routes for employees, while Sun Microsystems in the Bay Area has taken the lead in encouraging remote work centers and telecommuting. With the gradual spread of tolling and especially higher peak-hour tolls through expanding regional HOT lane systems, expect more and more large employers to develop trip consolidation and trip reduction options, and embrace telecommuting on a larger scale, over time.

Given advances in remote audio and video conferencing technology; ever-improving group software applications for sharing complex projects among a distributed workforce; plus heightened concerns about time lost in traffic and greenhouse gas emissions; and you've got a real harmonic convergence.

The time for congestion pricing has come.

TECHNORATI TAGS: PUGET SOUND, SEATTLE, TACOMA, TRANSPORTATION, TRAFFIC CONGESTION, TOLLS, TOLLING, CONGESTION PRICING, VIRGINIA, ORANGE COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA, NEW YORK CITY, SALT LAKE CITY, SAN DIEGO, DENVER, MINNEAPOLIS

Washington Governor Chris Gregoire yesterday announced a proposal - which the legislature would have to approve - for tolling the S.R. 520 bridge starting next year, and also indicated preliminary support for tolling the parallel I-90 bridge across Lake Washington. All this could raise about $2 billion for replacement of the deteriorating SR 520 span, which could fail in an earthquake or severe windstorm. The Seattle Times reports. The total cost was estimated at $4.4 billion, though a new state estimate suggets the tab could be cut to $4 billion with a questionable single-pontoon design which limits future transit expansion. Some $2 billion in bridge rebuild funding is already secured.

The new tolls would vary by time of day, higher during rush hours. This would qualify as congestion pricing, which is gaining steam across the U.S., as we wrote here earlier this week.

Tolling the SR 520 bridge is a required condition of a federal grant which provides $138 million for the bridge rebuild and other projects. There've been some promising developments on tolling and congestion pricing in Puget Sound - which we noted in the above-linked post, namely on the new Tacoma Narrows Bridge and a pilot project starting this year on SR 167. But we have a ways to go. While voters have approved two modest gas tax hikes in recent years and some city (Seattle) and county (King) taxes in 2006 for street maintenance and bus service respectively, a large, three-county roads and transit ballot measure (Proposition 1) tanked last November. Some say it was because road projects dragged down otherwise popular light rail, others because the price tag ($18 to $47 billion depending how you did the math) was too high and major priorities such as the 520 bridge and replacement of the crumbling Alaskan Way viaduct weren't allocated anywhere near the needed funds for completion.

There are tens of billions of dollars worth of road and transit projects remaining in Puget Sound; and a bracing 52 percent population increase projected by 2040, according to the Puget Sound Regional Council. Prospects are dim for any major gas tax hikes. So tolling and congestion pricing are key, along with expanded transit which will actually make a sizeable dent in traffic.

It's early yet in the political conversation about regional tolling and congestion pricing, but the Governor deserves some credit for broaching the subject with respect to the 520 bridge rebuild. However, the announced 2018 completion date is much too far off; hundreds of lives could be lost if the bridge fails. Is it a worrisome risk requiring strong leadership and timely action? Or not?

A public-private partnership including union or public employee pension funds could be fashioned to generate more money for a better bridge and get it built sooner. If there's ever been a time to think big about delivering better transportation infrastructure while limiting taxpayer costs, it's now. SR 520, the Viaduct replacement, vital road projects in Pierce and Snohomish counties, and regional transit expansion are all cases in point.

And while tolling I-90 would be essential to prevent traffic diversions from 520 motorists seeking to avoid the proposed new tolls there, it is the reversible express lanes of I-90 which should used for this purpose, and then, under a congestion pricing strategy. The toll revenues from I-90 would be needed to help pay for the SR 520 bridge rebuild, and a certain portion could be carved out to help fund additional express bus service on both bridges.

The 60-day short-session in the Washington state legislature beginning next week will be an eventful one on transportation. Stay tuned.

UPDATE, 1/14/08: Gregoire's announcement is earning positive feedback from the Seattle Post-Intelligencer editorial board, the Tacoma News Tribune editorial board, and Seattle Times editorial page editor James Vesely.

TECHNORATI TAGS: PUGET SOUND, TRANSPORTATION, SR 520, I-90, CHRIS GREGOIRE, TOLLS, TOLLING, CONGESTION PRICING, SEATTLE, KING COUNTY

"Get on board with Eastside commuter rail," urges the Everett Herald in a Sunday editorial following two community forums on the policy initiative last week, in which Cascadia Center previewed a new 501c4 non-profit - the Eastside TRailway Partnership - to raise public and private funds for a pilot route between Snohomish and Bellevue on old Burlington Northern and Sante Fe tracks to be purchased by the Port of Seattle. The Herald:

Imagine relatively small, quiet, fuel-efficient trains carrying thousands of commuters and tourists between Snohomish and Bellevue, and perhaps farther south, each weekday -- running every hour or even half-hour on tracks that already exist. Imagine a comfortable, scenic rail commute that includes seamless connections to buses to get you right where you need to go. Then imagine a bicycle/pedestrian trail safely using the same corridor, potentially connecting Snohomish County's Centennial Trail with King County's extensive trail system.

It's not a dream, it's a real possibility....First, the Port of Seattle must complete its planned purchase of the 42-mile Burlington Northern Santa Fe corridor. The port...should follow through with this visionary investment.

In the meantime, local leaders should get behind this eminently sensible idea and quickly identify funding sources. The nonprofit Cascadia Center, which is pushing the rail and trail idea, estimates that between $100 million and $250 million will be needed to get the line going -- a bargain compared with other projects. Cascadia's (Director) Bruce Agnew, a former Snohomish County Council member, says much of that could come from private investors who could put in amenities along the route.

After the first Eastside TRailways Partnership forum held last week in Kirkland (Seattle Times article here), Agnew spoke at length with KIRO 710's Dave Ross. Agnew said:

We're talking about a mixture of public and private financing. We'd like to see the track rehabilitated by public agencies like Sound Transit, Metro and Community Transit, since it extends up into Snohomish County. But the stations and the trail development and some of the other track work like sidings could be paid for by private developers in nodes around stations where they want to put in...software parks or housing. For instance, Metro has a plan for housing that goes around the South Kirkland park-and-ride lots, similar to what was done with the streetcar in Seattle.

Getting the old tracks up to snuff for commuter rail is eminently do-able. A Cascadia Center report by retired BNSF Northwest Director of Operations Read Fay emphasized the modest costs for rehabilitation of the tracks to accomodate trains at 40 miles per hour. Part of the proposal is to use smart trains. Cascadia has also stressed the preferability of Diesel Motor Unit double-decker coaches on the envisioned route, which can burn biodiesel and carry bicycles. They require no locomotive and can pull two more cars of the same type. (Above left is a DMU unit to be used in the San Diego region on the North County Transit District's "Sprinter" route between Escondido and Oceanside. Service is scheduled to begin in several weeks). As Agnew noted on the Dave Ross Show, so-callled DMUs are:

....extremely quiet, it's basically not louder than a bus, instead of the traditional commuter rail, which has a loud locomotive and a bunch of train sets following it....the vision is a quiet train operating once a half hour or maybe an hour, and a good trail system with small stations that are community oriented, lots of stops. We could see at South Kirkland park-and-ride a transfer to bus rapid transit at an expanded park-and-ride on (State Route) 520....

Using double-decker DMU coaches, the passenger capacity of a two-car train would be almost 400, compared to just 200, Agnew noted, on the West Coast Amtrak run which includes Portland, Seattle and Vancouver. Artist J. Craig Thorpe's preliminary sketches of Eastside commuter rail station designs - done for Cascadia Center - are here.

The next step, as the Everett Herald noted, is for the Port to complete its purchase of the BNSF line. In a post-event recap, Cascadia Center provides names and e-mail addresses of key Port officials that the public may wish to contact regarding the proposed deal.

It's important to note that not only does the Port of Seattle deserve credit for deciding to keep the valuable rail and trail corridor protected in public ownership, so too does King County, which in recent months has engaged in sometimes-complicated negotiations focused on buying some or all of the property from the Port and perhaps ripping out all the rails to focus solely on trail construction. In a Seattle Post-Intelligencer op-ed published yesterday, County Council Members Larry Phillips and Bob Ferguson affirm the Council's formal support of a dual use approach which leaves the rails intact and includes their use for transit.

The county will quite understandably proceed with its own public process in part because it wants to encourage regional agencies to deliberate together on possible rail operations, and partly because the county retains an option to purchase from the Port the seven-mile-long Woodinville-Redmond spur, and track south from the Wilburton Trestle in Bellevue, to the end of the line in Renton.

Meanwhile, a March public meeting in Bellevue is being tentatively planned, at which board members of the Eastside TRailways Partnership would meet formally for the first time. Priorities will include advancing the dialog on joint public-private financing of the Snohomish to Bellevue pilot project; plus balancing needs of trail and rail users; and seeking additional community input. Stay tuned.

UPDATE, 1/28/08: Additional press coverage on Cascadia's push for Eastside commuter rail comes via the Everett Herald news staff; plus Seattle Times opinionator Lance Dickie, and the Kirkland Courier-Reporter.

TECHNORATI TAGS: EASTSIDE COMMUTER RAIL, EASTSIDE TRAILWAY PARTNERSHIP, CASCADIA CENTER, PORT OF SEATTLE, BELLEVUE, SNOHOMISH, RAILS AND TRAILS, KING COUNTY

Have you ever seen a whole lot more of the mighty Columbia River and Portland's skyline than you really wanted to, because you were crawling on Interstate 5? C'mon, raise your hands. Well, good news. The government is here to help. And so are you and I. Probably. The Oregonian's Dylan Rivera reports today that at a meeting yesterday of the 39-member Columbia River Crossing Task Force, tolls emerged as a likely ingredient in the recipe to fund a fix for the badly-congested Interstate Bridge corridor on I-5.

The early and perhaps rose-colored estimate is that tolls would range from $1.28 each way during off-peak hours to $2.56 at peak periods. They would be collected electronically, and provide an estimated one-third of the roughly $4.2 billion needed for a 12 lanes-with-transit bridge replacement, and related work to ease congestion at six I-5 interchanges.

The current six-lane span (actually two side-by-side bridges built in 1917 and 1958) connects Portland and fast-growing Clark County, Washington. As part of I-5, the choked corridor also carries giga-loads (I believe that's the official term) of West Coast freight truck traffic. The slog on, and to and from the bridge within a five-mile radius, now lasts six hours a day, but planners say that would grow to 20 hours daily by 2030 if nothing is done, and as freight traffic doubles.

You think groceries are expensive now? Just wait 'till we do nothing.

As The Oregonian's Rivera reported last October, the Task Force is scheduled to make a final choice on bridge replacement configuration in February, but the likely selection is a 12-laner with light rail, preliminarily estimated to cost about $4.2 billion, including the above-noted interchange work. But that figure - and needed tolling revenue - could easily grow, as design engineering work is completed. The feds might provide up to 80 percent of the funding, or less. The Task Force, a conglomeration of elected officials, transit agencies, neighborhood and other interest groups, is to finalize a finance plan for the selected alternative by August, in time for Congress to appropriate funds for the project in 2009. The bridge is deemed a critical national project by the U.S. Department Of Transportation.

Oregon Governor Ted Kulongoski and Washngton Governor Chris Gregoire recently visited the bridge and Gregoire confronted the tolling beast head-on, telling The Columbian:

The interesting questions there are: Do we start tolling before we even begin construction on the bridge to make sure the tolls can be lower when it's ultimately opened? Do we do variable tolling to reduce congestion and give more choices to consumers? Do we have to toll someplace else because we're going to push traffic in a big way" to other bridges? In my mind, we are going to toll. How do we toll?

In a very similar vein, Gregoire also recently made headlines by calling for tolling on State Route 520, and perhaps also on I-90 to help replace the unsafe SR 520 bridge which connects growing and job-rich Eastside communities such as Redmond and Bellevue with Seattle, across Lake Washington.

The federal gas tax trust fund is likely headed for a deficit by 2009. In addition, Washington State's gas tax revenues are starting to come in at a rate lower than forecast, due to volatile world oil markets, hgher prices and better mileage. Major regional transportation tax packages, whether they rely on a portion of regional sales taxes, add-ons to the motor vehicle excise tax, or other taxes, will continue to face very tough sledding politically, across the Puget Sound region, and in many other metro regions nationally.

Meanwhile, though we may have "already paid" for construction and even some expansion and upkeep of major highways and state routes with public monies, wear and tear take their toll (no pun intended), as do growth and congestion. Increasing transit market share is crucial, as are flex-fuel plug-in hybrid electric vehicles, ride-sharing and telework. After where, when, how and how much to toll, the next debate is whether tolling revenues can be used in part for transit. As noted in our Transportation Action Plan for Puget Sound issued after the defeat of Propopsition 1 last November, Cascadia Center supports regional High Occupancy And Toll (HOT) lanes on major interstate and state highways in central Puget Sound, with some share of the revenues dedicated to high-capacity transit such as express buses.

In any case, the very real constraints on funding sources of old, means that in contrast tolls - and especially variable-rate tolls pegged to real-time congestion - begin to make more and more sense.

How encouraging that the Cascadia region is starting to get that.

UPDATE, 1/28/08: In a Sunday Jan. 27 editorial, The Oregonian strongly endorses time-variable electronic tolling - and sooner rather than later - on the Interstate Bridge. That's part of the above-referenced Columbia Crossing I-5 bi-state congestion relief project (which the paper's editorial board terms The Emerald Gate). The Oregonian stresses tolls on the bridge on an ongoing basis, rather than just for a limited duration, in order to help fund not only its replacement and related corridor interchange work, but also ongoing maintenance, and capacity expansion. That last is something which could be accomplished by adding even more transit after opening.

TECHNORATI TAGS: PORTLAND, OREGON, I-5 INTERSTATE BRIDGE, COLUMBIA CROSSING, TOLLING, CONGESTION PRICING, PUGET SOUND, SEATTLE, S.R. 520, I-90, CHRIS GREGOIRE, TED KULONGOSKI