Transportation
Expanding and maintaining a safe, efficient and reliable transportation system is critical to the regional and state economy. It is also an important factor in maintaining the quality of life for the people who live in the Puget Sound area and throughout the state. State, local, and regional governments and organizations face the challenge of maintaining, operating, and improving the existing transportation system to accommodate continued economic and population growth and the associated demands on the transportation system.
The initial transportation component of VISION 2020, which was adopted in
1990 and updated in 1995, identified the region’s strategies for meeting this
challenge and provided a basis for the more detailed planning and investment
strategies identified in the region’s Metropolitan Transportation Plan called
Destination 2030. VISION 2020 was the first major regional attempt to address
growth and traffic congestion, and many communities in the region have begun to
implement VISION 2020’s transportation objectives.
Population projections indicate that by 2040, over 5 million people could be living within the four-county region. This potentially translates into millions of additional trips, and potentially many more hours of delay, on a transportation network that is already crowded. While it is possible to expand transportation capacity (both roadways and transit), it is doubtful that the region has the financial capacity, land supply, or public support to add enough capacity to return the region to service levels of twenty years ago. Congestion, especially during the peak periods, could likely be a part of our future regardless of the growth alternative chosen. However, we can make improvements. The current regional transportation plan, Destination 2030, has identified needed investments of over $100 billion to preserve, maintain, operate and expand the region’s transportation system. The region has begun implementing that plan, with the first phase of Sound Transit either operating or under construction, the Washington State Legislature stepping up and investing several billion dollars in highway expansion, and a regional investment package for both a Sound Transit Phase 2 and a roadway proposal from the Regional Transportation Investment District under development for a 2007 public vote. These investments could improve traffic flow at key chokepoints, and provide travel options for our growing population. Still, the current plan calls for tens of billions of additional investments in system expansion to address growth expected up to 2030.
How does this transportation plan perform against growth alternatives, which account for an additional 10 years of population and job growth? This section evaluates how the four different growth alternatives, described in further detail in Chapter 4 – Definition of Alternatives, affect the performance of the planned transportation system.
