Wednesday, November 20, 2013

Article Says Proposed Transportation Package Includes Everything the Public Doesn't Want

Click to view full size. At least I think it will work that way.
Yesterday I posted an editorial from the Spokesman-Review that said we should embrace the transportation package proposed by the Senate Majority Coalition Caucus because of funding included in it for the North Spokane Corridor.

Today I was sent this article from SightlineDaily that says the plan should be rejected because it includes everything the public doesn't want. According to Sightline, the funding package would spend three times more money on highway expansion and new roads than constituents claimed in a recent survey that they want. And that doesn't leave much money for anything else, like maintenance, safety improvements, transit/bike/pedestrian projects and more.
It's a tough choice here in Eastern Washingotn. We've been struggling for years to come up with money to build a new freeway and this could be our final chance at a large chunk of funding. But at the same time, when staff is out and about in the public, we hear lots of comments on how we need improvements to our transit sytem and sidewalks, etc. Thoughts on the topic?

 

2 comments:

Charles said...

I agree they need more money for repairing roads and bridges, and less for new roads, but they need to finish the roads they have started also.

SRTC Staff said...

That's a good point. A half-finished road doesn't do anyone any good, although I still hear from people on occasion who suggest abandoning the North Spokane Corridor! Too late for that.


About SRTC

SRTC is the federally designated Metropolitan Planning Organization (MPO) for Spokane County. Urbanized areas with populations exceeding 50,000 people are required to have an MPO. SRTC was formed to address the county's transportation planning needs. It provides coordination in planning between the public, cities, small towns, the county, the state, transit providers, and tribes.

SRTC offers services including transportation monitoring, transportation modeling, census information analysis, travel demand forecasting, historical traffic count analysis, geographic information systems, and trip generation rates.