Our state’s high unemployment rate will increase even more if we fail, once again, to enact a comprehensive long-term transportation solution for our state.  We’ve already achieved the dubious distinction of having one of the country’s highest unemployment rates, and we’ll break even more jobless records unless we act fast.  Last year, the transportation plan in Olympia hit the same gridlock that thousands of drivers endure every day.   This year we must break through that legislative logjam to begin to untangle the endless traffic jams.

New transportation projects will stimulate the economy with new jobs.  According to the Office of Financial Management, the Governor’s $8.5 billion transportation package will create and sustain more than 20,000 new jobs over the next few years.  These are good, family-wage jobs that will help improve our economy.  The transportation improvements themselves will provide lasting economic development, and help employers be more competitive.

The main funding source for our roads is our gas tax.  Sadly, a tremendous amount of misinformation has been spread around about this tax.  Here are some facts:

— Our state’s gas tax is a users’ fee.

— It is spent ONLY on roads, highways and ferries -- it is a dedicated fund.

— Our state’s gas tax is the lowest on the West Coast.

— Washington’s gas tax ranks 23rd in the nation.

— It was last increased over a decade ago, in 1991.

Governor Locke’s proposal is a good place to start.  He has proposed a 3-cent a year gas tax increase for three years.  So, if you use 500 gallons of gas a year, the tax increase would cost you a grand total $15 in 2002. ($30 in 2003 and $45 in 2004)   Drivers in Washington already enjoy a lower gas tax than Idaho, Montana, Utah, California and Oregon.  Our state has the lowest gas taxes in the region—and the worst traffic.  Obviously, there’s a direct connection.

The Governor’s proposal also includes a one-time tax on the purchase of new or used cars.  Assuming an average family buys a $20,000 car every six or seven years, the new tax would amount to a total of $300, or $50 a year over a six-year average.  Anyone who buys a cheaper car or doesn’t buy a car so often would pay less.

A vital part of the transportation solution is a regional partnership that allows counties to propose their own funding solutions, with local-option financing.  These regional options would be referred to voters for approval and would be dedicated to regional transportation priorities, such as a new 520 floating bridge, a new North Spokane Corridor or a new bridge over the Columbia River.

One of the differences in the current transportation debate is the specific listing of projects that would be built with the new funding.  Although the project list has been around, it has not been directly linked to the funding package in the past.  Another new wrinkle is the Governor’s decision to limit transportation projects to those areas where support for the transportation package is clear.

For years, several areas of the state that have benefited most from transportation spending have been less than supportive of needed transportation funding.  Many of those same areas of the state receive more in transportation services than they contribute in transportation taxes.  In some counties, the difference amounts to a return of from $3 to $6 for every dollar in taxes contributed.  On average, Eastern Washington counties enjoy an average ratio of revenues to expenditures of nearly 120 percent.

Given the transportation crisis faced by much of the Puget Sound, the Governor has let it be known that the future distribution of transportation projects will be affected by the support it gets from local lawmakers.  Despite cries of indignation from those who have blocked all progress on this issue for the past several years, the time has now arrived where “the rubber meets the road.”   If the Governor didn’t force the issue, many of us who’ve watched the gridlock in Olympia for years would predict that the rubber won’t have any new roads to run on.

If we fail to make smart investments in our basic infrastructure we will strangle our economic recovery over the next several years.   We must get moving again.