Measure will keep region moving

The League of Women Voters of Snohomish County supports the Roads and Transit ballot measure.

Over many years, the League of Women Voters has studied transportation and its relationship to land use, energy and air and water quality. Based on those studies, the League supports a balanced transportation policy that includes increases in funding to provide adequate revenue and flexibility for a multi-modal system of transportation. We believe that the Roads and Transit package proposed by the Regional Transportation Investment District and Sound Transit meets these League positions:

n The projects would help to develop a balanced and seamless transportation system.

n The projects would aid in the efficient, economical movement of both people and freight.

n The projects in the Sound Transit portion of the package would help to promote development in centers, manage and reduce single occupant vehicle use on highways and shift solo trips to alternative modes.

n The projects would help respond to the expected growth in population, jobs and resultant requirements for regional housing density.

If the voters pass the proposed regional package, there must be continuing effective citizen participation so that the projects go forward in ways that don’t harm community livability and character, cause adverse environmental or freight mobility impacts, or increase energy consumption. This ballot measure is a compromise, but a compromise necessary to keep our region moving forward.

Margaret Johnson