Speeding up the widening of I-5 through Everett, an idea with virtually no opposition, nearly became road kill last week because of a squabble centered in King County. Fortunately, cooler heads prevailed on the final day of the legislative session.

Work on the I-5 project, which will add a carpool lane in each direction between the Boeing freeway and U.S. 2 and an all-purpose lane from 41st Street SE to U.S. 2, now can begin in 2006 rather than 2008. That means a major traffic chokepoint will be cleared sooner, and that construction won’t stall traffic going to and from the Vancouver Olympics in 2010.

The new schedule had already been agreed on as part of a supplemental transportation bill, but the entire measure appeared to have fallen victim to a stalemate over local transportation funding in the Puget Sound area. When the chairmen of the Legislature’s two transportation committees, both from King County, couldn’t agree, they threatened to let the new I-5 schedule and other projects die.

The I-5 project is part of the nickel gas tax package approved by lawmakers last year, and moving up its schedule was part of the state’s agreement with Boeing to have the 7E7 built here. Keeping faith with that deal is important if the state wants to have credibility in recruiting other major employers.

Too much was at stake to let politics doom this project’s speedy completion. King County leaders need to sit down and agree on their own transportation priorities before other worthy projects get caught in the crossfire.