Eyman initiative targets traffic

OLYMPIA — Mukilteo’s Tim Eyman has picked his initiative target for 2008.

It’s not taxes, it’s traffic.

On Friday, he plans to file a measure aimed at reducing congestion by opening carpool lanes to all vehicles in noncommute hours, synchronizing traffic signals on city streets and clearing accidents faster from all roadways.

“We’re not saying this initiative is the silver bullet. It is a step in the right direction,” Eyman said Wednesday.

Elements of this measure mirror a 2004 initiative aimed at opening up carpool lanes. Initiative 883 failed to garner enough signatures to qualify for the ballot.

Eyman said he’s not spoken directly with backers of that measure that included Belle­vue developer Kemper Freeman. He said he has e-mailed drafts of the initiative to people who work with Freeman on transportation-related matters.

Friday is the first day initiatives can be filed. If the secretary of state approves the measure for circulation, Eyman will have until early July to gather signatures of roughly 225,000 registered voters to qualify it for the November ballot.

Eyman said the intention is to put in place some of the recommendations of an October performance audit of the Department of Transportation.

That $1.7 million analysis issued by state Auditor Brian Sonntag looked at the effectiveness of the department’s programs to reduce gridlock.

The audit included 22 recommendations, including making congestion reduction a priority in policy making, opening up carpool lanes and considering forming a regional transportation agency to guide decision making in the Puget Sound.

Eyman said the analysis provided information intended to spur action.

“Where is the action?” he asked.

He put his answer in the form of the initiative that would:

Allow anyone to drive in a carpool lane except Monday through Friday from 6 to 9 a.m. and 3 to 6 p.m.;

Require cities and counties to synchronize traffic lights on heavily traveled arterials;

Increase funding to expand emergency roadside assistance to speed up removal of stalled vehicles and ones involved in accidents.

State Sen. Mary Margaret Haugen said this initiative is predicated on a false premise and won’t achieve what Eyman intends.

“Congestion is our number one priority. We do spend money on congestion relief. What does he call that project in Everett?” Haugen said, referring to the addition of a carpool lane on I-5 through the city.

She said safety remains a top priority, too. It’s hard to redirect state money to traffic signals when fatal accidents continue to occur on places like U.S. 2.

Opening up the carpool lanes will work against efforts to get cars off the road. Buses use the lanes and people ride them to save time, she said. They’ll go back to driving if buses start to get jammed up in traffic.

“One way to solve congestion is to make more alternatives for people. But what he’s doing just undermines that,” she said.

Actions required by the initiative cost money. To cover them, the initiative proposes:

To put a portion of sales and use tax collected on purchases of new and used cars into a new state account;

To require local governments use all fines generated from use of red-light cameras to be spent in that jurisdiction on traffic reduction efforts.

That last one could hurt a city like Lynnwood. Since installing red light cameras in July, the city has collected $934,056 for its general fund. Much of the money is earmarked for public safety.

Eyman’s announcement Wednesday might have caught some by surprise.

At the time of the Legislature’s special session in November, Eyman pushed lawmakers to eliminate the ability of governments to bank unused taxing authority from year to year.

He seemed pretty adamant at the time that he would push an initiative to ax what he called banked capacity.

“You try to pick that one thing where (lawmakers) really aren’t listening the most,” Eyman said. “The one we thought we could make the most difference in an area where voters wanted something to happen in 2008 is transportation.”

Reporter Jerry Cornfield: 360-352-8623 or jcornfieldheraldnet.com.