Toll Premiums = Congestion Insurance

April 17th, 2007
In a Puget Sound Business Journal op-ed, Cascadia Center's Co-Directors Bruce Agnew and Tom Till make the case for regional transportation governance and tolling. They write:
People in Puget Sound want politicians to solve the traffic congestion problem. They have supported two statewide gas-tax packages since 2003. While other regions fund transportation with a mix of public and private funding, our state has been reluctant to embrace such partnerships and tolling. Elected leaders are gun shy about too much talk of new tolls, except for those on the 520 bridge. Politicians risk being accused of bait and switch, ...

Sound Transit's Rising Costs Belie Logic of Light Rail

April 12th, 2007
by Michael Ennis, Director, <?xml:namespace prefix = st1 />Washington Policy Center for Transportation Policy<?xml:namespace prefix = o />All sides can agree that the region’s transportation system is woefully insufficient to handle the demand on our road system. The state’s November Congestion Report concludes that travel times increased on most every major route monitored in the region. And

My, My, Light-Rail Corruption!

April 12th, 2007
The Maricopa County Sheriff is investigating possible corruption in the construction of the $1.4 billion, 20-mile Phoenix light-rail project. The investigation may relate to the project’s former construction chief. Last October, it was discovered that she offered to pay a consultant team extra money if it hired a friend of hers. When the firm refused, [...]

New 520 bridge may mean tolls on I-90, too

April 8th, 2007
State Treasurer Michael Murphy rejects the finance plan for the proposed rebuilding of the Highway 520 bridge and won't bankroll the project unless lawmakers levy tolls on the Interstate 90 crossing as well.

Seattle's Alaskan Way Viaduct And Urban Crime

April 1st, 2007
The replacement of Seattle's slowly sinking, aged and earthquake-prone Alaskan Way Viaduct has lately been at the center of an unresolved political and planning controversy now entering a much needed cool-down phase. Yet the concern remains: what are the effects of large, elevated roadways over busy urban neighborhoods? The Puget Sound Business Journal reports that in the booming Belltown neighborhood just north of downtown Seattle, the nearby elevated Viaduct helps encourage street drug sales and drug use which has demanded increased police presence and continues apace.
Under the shadow of the Alaskan ...