We’ve all experienced it. The impossibility of estimating travel times during morning and evening commutes between Mercer Island and employment centers in Bellevue and Seattle. Drivers banging their hands against the steering wheel, going nowhere — stuck in the carpool lane, no less.
The Puget Sound region is currently adding about 236 people each day, and we’ve seen our communities transform as these new residents find places to live and work. We’re already feeling it every time we hit the road. The Washington State Department of Transportation reports that delays on our freeways doubled between 2009 and 2014. And our HOV lanes are feeling the pain, too. Across the region, buses are moving slower as travel times grow.
In the next 25 years, gridlock will continue to get worse as nearly 1 million more people begin living here.
We have to do something.
The good news: we have proven solutions. Transit ridership has grown remarkably in recent years. For example, after the U-Link opened there was an 83 percent spike in ridership. Second quarter 2016 Link light rail ridership was up 76 percent compared to the same time last year. And just a couple weeks ago, Sound Transit light rail recorded its first day of 100,000-plus boardings.
We are becoming bus-rail-train-bike-walk commuters — beating traffic, saving money and doing our part to cool the planet.
To ensure we maintain our quality of life and grow our regional economy, we need to make smart transportation investments that keep people moving. That’s what Sound Transit Proposition 1 is all about.
Proposition 1 would expand light rail to 116 miles, creating a truly regional system that enables residents of Mercer Island to connect to other Eastside cities and major job centers such as Boeing, Amazon, Google, Costco, REI, Expedia and Microsoft. Commuter rail will extend to new places. Proposition 1 also creates bus rapid transit from Burien to Renton on I-405 and SR 518; Renton to Bothell on I-405; and Bothell to Shoreline/Seattle light rail station to SR 522.
Opponents of Proposition 1 are using today’s version of the same shortsighted arguments that defeated Forward Thrust when they say: it’s too expensive and it’s too focused on light rail.
Some people argue the median cost of $14 per month more for taxpayers isn’t worth it. Yet, commuters in our region are already spending valuable time stuck in traffic, costing them $1,500 a year.
Some people claim that Sound Transit light rail doesn’t solve congestion. The counter argument is that investing in light rail creates more high-capacity transit options that give thousands of people the opportunity to avoid traffic congestion. A four-car light rail train has the capacity to carry 16,000 people an hour in each direction, while a single general purpose freeway lane can only carry 2,000 cars an hour.
I have even heard others go so far as to say Proposition 1 takes money away from our students. That’s not true. This ballot measure will not use funds designated for education.
One thing is unassailable. Growth is coming. It’s already impacting our quality of life and our economy, and those trends won’t reverse themselves in the next 25 years. We must prepare for the future and keep our people moving. Voting yes on Sound Transit Proposition 1 is the right investment to achieve these goals.
Deputy King County Executive Fred Jarrett lives on Mercer Island.
