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Puget Sound to vote on transit measure

Plan will reduce pollution, but has drawbacks

This coming November, Puget Sound voters will have an opportunity to add 50 miles of light rail service to the 20 miles now under way. Voter approval of ST2 will extend light rail to Bellevue and Redmond, down to Tacoma and north beyond Lynwood. This rail extension will help cut pollution caused by the daily commute, but the measure also includes funding for projects that have environmental drawbacks.

Environment Washington has been leading the call to reduce global warming pollution in our state. Our biggest source of that pollution comes from transportation.

“Extending the light rail service is exactly the kind of investment Washington needs to make to give people climate-smart alternatives to driving alone to work,” said Environment Washington’s Bill LaBorde. “Transit will help reduce sprawl as well.”

Working out the kinks

The Legislature added into the measure a package of new road investments, known as the Regional Transportation Investment District (RTID). These additions were due to the genuine need to upgrade and replace aging roads and bridges, but also because of pressure from the road builders’ lobby, who
pushed for more road projects.

Environment Washington worked with our coalition partners to reduce the scale and environmental impact of RTID projects, insisting that more of the road investment should be used for safety and infrastructure repair. We negotiated elimination of funding for projects like Cross-Base Highway and SR 162 in Pierce County, along with policy language that will give us leverage to reduce the scale and impact of projects like I-405 and SR 509.

“We still have concerns about the additional pollution and sprawl that will be caused by adding more roads,” said LaBorde. “But it would be a shame to pass up the opportunity to build out the kind of rail transit system we so admire in cities like Portland. I would recommend our members in Pierce, Snohomish and King counties to vote Yes.”

Environment Washington will continue to further reduce the scale of potential harmful expansion projects, and find new solutions to global warming in Washington.
 

Voter approval of regional transportation measure will fund 50 miles of new light rail.