I was proud our Legislature finally stepped up to the plate by passing the 9.5 cents per gallon gas tax. Our entire region is dealing with bad traffic and total gridlock is coming shortly. Now, the voters are saying the tax is a bad thing.
With gas prices going up daily, even before the Hurricane Katrina disaster, we would never notice such a small amount. Maybe instead of us paying for new roads and freeways in Saudi Arabia, Venezuela, Iran, etc., we could actually build some here in Washington.
Locals who say roll back the tax as Highway 2 isn’t in the mix need to understand we have to start somewhere. The Alaskan Way Viaduct is in danger of collapse. The 520 floating bridge is also showing its age and needs more capacity. Until those are financed by whatever means (tolls?, taxes?), we’ll never see any money for local projects. The money will go to the highest capacity roads serving the most taxpayers.
WSDOT is not some sort of road building Ponzi scheme. It takes lots of engineering and money to build in this day and age. Right-of-way is very expensive. If it goes in the ground, you have environmental issues; if it goes in the air, you have earthquake proofing. For once, maybe the taxpayers can do the right thing and invest in our future and restore some of our quality of life by building for the 21st Century.
Steve Morse
Snohomish
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