By The Herald Editorial Board
Surely, we’ll have flying cars by 2050.
But on the off-chance that we don’t — and probably even if we do — we’ll need guidance for the next 20 to 25 years as the state, counties, cities and tribal governments, agencies and businesses — and all those who travel from one point to the next — make plans for transportation and its intersections with all aspects of our lives.
That’s the goal of a draft plan from the Washington State Transportation Commission, a seven-member panel of state residents appointed to up to two six-year terms, responsible for recommendations on state transportation policy. Among its work is the latest draft transportation plan, Vision 2050.
Even though the title envisions transportation for 2050, the plan is actually intended to help direct planning for the next 20 years, said Debbie Young, the commission’s chair. The plan is typically updated every four years, but this is the first revision since covid. But that delay, she said, has allowed the plan to include more analysis and consideration of recent state legislative work, including the Climate Commitment Act and the Healthy Environment for All Act.
Drafting the plan over the last two years has involved regional listening and focus group sessions and a survey that returned more than 3,300 responses from across the state regarding needs and recommended priorities.
“The fact that we bring so many voices to the table to talk and share what their issues are and identify goals for moving forward, that’s as important as the document,” Young said.
The commission now is taking comments on the draft until Friday, before the final plan is released later this month.
The plan isn’t meant to be prescriptive but is intended to help guide planning at all levels of state, local and tribal government, Young said.
The plan outlines three strategic priorities:
Maintaining critical and transportation infrastructure, putting the focus on preserving existing roads, bridges, ferries, rail and such before adding new capacity; streamlining permitting and funding for that preservation and working collaboratively on transportation corridors.
Creating safe and connected communities, emphasizing traffic safety, especially after an alarming growth in traffic deaths in the last decade that only began to ease last year, by use of data and tools to increase safety and better traffic management planning for all modes of transportation.
Establishing resilient and reliable systems, developing a regional West Coast network plan with California and Oregon to minimize travel disruptions, make investments in transportation workforce training and continue the transition to low-emission and zero-emission transportation, including a statewide network of EV-charging stations.
There are some specific recommendations in the plan, goals that the transportation commission has championed for years, including the state’s Target Zero traffic safety campaign, more certain funding for the backlog of maintenance and preservation of existing transportation infrastructure and the transition away from reliance on the state’s gas tax as the primary source of funding to a “road usage charge” or per-mile fee as — even with the recent 6-cent-a-gallon gas tax increase — revenue from the gas tax is expected to decline from $1.5 billion annually today to just $900 million by 2050.
That revenue will be key to assuring preservation of what the state currently has as well as future investments in roads, bridges, ferries and all modes of transportation.
As part of the plan process the statewide survey was key to feedback that was considered.
The survey showed general satisfaction with transportation, said Reema Griffith, the commission’s executive director, but there also was consensus among respondents that governments must protect the existing infrastructure and maintain it, improve traffic safety and continue to reach out and listen to the public.
But the plan also had to consider more than a street-level view.
“Transportation is not just about infrastructure, right?” Griffith said. “It’s about quality of life. It’s the backbone of our economy. And it’s reminding the public and lawmakers of the vitalness of what we have and how important it is for that quality of life to continue.”
Key to that quality of life is the transition to clean transportation, and the plan spends some time on the work ahead to reduce greenhouse gas emissions — of which transportation accounts for nearly 40 percent of emissions in the state — by 2050 by 95 percent below the 1990 baseline of 94 million metric tons of carbon dioxide.
Our communities are going to look different over the coming 20 to 25 years, with an expected addition of 2 million more residents and 1 million more housing units in the state, the equivalent of adding two more Seattle-sized cities. Much of that growth will be centered on the I-5 corridor, but all communities will see growth and will have to account for — as well as housing and services — transportation.
Digging into that planning now, and adding your thoughts to the conversation may help keep you from spending too much of your future sitting in traffic and wishing you had a flying car.
Comment on road map
The Washington State Transportation Commission’s Vision 2050 draft plan is available at tinyurl.com/Vision2050WSTC.
The commission is taking comments on Vision 2050 until Friday. Comments can be emailed to transc@wstc.wa.gov or by submitting an online form at wstc.wa.gov/contact-us/. Comments also can be mailed to WSTC Vision 205, P.O. Box 47308, Olympia, WA 98504-7308.
Correction
The editorial above has been updated with new information regarding the amount state gas tax revenue is expected to decline annually by 2050. Based on new state revenue figure, it is expected to fall from about $1.5 billion per year to about $900 million a year by 2050.
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