State’s highway maintenance still on ‘glidepath to failure’

Published 1:30 am Wednesday, October 29, 2025

Thank you for reprinting Jerry Cornfield’s article from the Washington State Standard on our state’s failure to keep up with basic road maintenance (“’Early stages of critical failure’: Funding outlook grim for WA road upkeep,” Oct. 17, The Herald).

As Jerry reported, we’re on former Transportation Secretary Roger Millar’s “glidepath to failure” thanks in part to a strong tradition of neglect and his successor’s “constrained approach” in funding road maintenance. This strategy ensures that we’ll repair about 8 percent of our state’s 7,900 miles of road in 2026, and repair less than 10 percent of Washington’s 3,400 bridges by my 102nd birthday in 2060. I want adopt Secretary Meredith’s “constrained approach” to taxes I donate to Olympia. If I had that option, I’d prioritize K-5 schools, our ferry service (since I live on Whidbey Island), emergency services and programs for low income families. I’d then put the ecretary’s budget near the top of my list, followed by public safety, those pesky (but necessary) tax breaks for millionaires who create jobs, and subsidies for corporations who earn $1 million in net profit.

If you need to fill space, why not regularly feature attention-getting photos of roads and bridges most in need of the secretary’s attention?

Eric Steiner

Freeland