The roads-and-transit package: Now is the time to make critical investments in transportation

Picture for a moment the following snapshots of the future in the Puget Sound region:

A young couple — he works in downtown Seattle, she in Tacoma — are able to buy their first home in Des Moines because they are finally able to whisk to work and back on a fast, reliable, regionally integrated and environmentally friendly light rail and commuter rail system.

Imagine that Boeing, with facilities spread across three counties, is able to continue to move critical Dreamliner and (since we're daydreaming) 797 components on time along previously bottlenecked freight corridors.

Imagine a Microsoft programmer living in Seattle having the luxury of shrugging off early morning traffic reports, confident in the knowledge she has the option of hopping aboard a speedy light-rail train that runs every few minutes on Interstate 90, getting her reliably across the lake without ever having to sit idling in frustrating bumper-to-bumper traffic.

And over time, imagine if we could concentrate development — and the 1 million more people who will live in our region by 2025 — around new transit stations, sparking the emergence of vibrant, bike- and pedestrian-friendly communities where people live near where they work, thus reducing automobile demand and sharply slashing greenhouse-gas emissions.

Yes, we are painting an optimistic picture. But we have good reason to do so, because before us is an opportunity to adopt the comprehensive transportation blueprint that will make all of this possible. We can reverse the downward transportation spiral of our recent past if we are willing to think toward the future and make critical transportation investments now.

The Puget Sound region leads the world in innovation. We built the first passenger airplanes, we changed how people communicated and worked through the development of software, and we are developing cutting-edge treatments to fight some of the world's most vexing diseases. Yet, we rely on an antiquated transportation system that has no hope of sustaining our region's prosperity if not given an extreme makeover.

This November, if voters in King, Pierce and Snohomish counties approve Proposition 1, the roads-and-transit package that has been five years in the making, we will take a major step forward in laying the foundation for a healthy, sustainable economy and preserving and improving our region's quality of life for succeeding generations.

After decades of studies and debate, the roads-and-transit plan will finally begin to catch us up with other parts of the country, building 50 miles of new light rail — more than currently exists in Portland — linking Bellevue, Redmond's Overlake area, Mercer Island, Northgate, Shoreline, Lynnwood, Des Moines, Federal Way, Tacoma and other locations with Seattle. It will put in place 12,000 much-needed park-and-ride slots at bus and rail stations to make it convenient for commuters to get out of their cars. And, it will provide new and improved regional express and local bus service.

We'll finally address major choke points like the "Mercer Mess" in Seattle, and add needed capacity to congested, heavily traveled highways like Interstate 405 between Bellevue and Renton. And, we'll make long-overdue investments in key road projects that enhance our safety as well as our economic future: The roads-and-transit measure invests more than $1 billion toward replacing the earthquake-vulnerable Highway 520 bridge and more than $100 million in replacing the crumbling South Park Bridge.

The roads-and-transit package will improve the efficiency and capacity of our road network, conserving fuel and cutting pollution by adding miles of HOV lanes — for the first time, car pools and express buses will be able to travel from Pierce County to Snohomish County in a dedicated transit lane without ever having to worry about merging in and out of traffic. And, we'll begin testing other innovative transportation ideas that will help us get more out of the roads we already have.

Stack that against the alternative: more of the same, only much worse as our population expands by a million new residents. We all know our current transportation system isn't working, and that sitting on our hands will grind the gears of our economy and innovation to a halt and slowly but surely erode our quality of life. Think of more traffic, more delays, and none of the convenient transportation options that other metropolitan areas enjoy. And, think of years of endless talk and more political infighting and division, all without any action. That is simply unacceptable.

It's no wonder that this plan has such broad and enthusiastic support, winning bipartisan endorsements from Sen. Patty Murray, Gov. Christine Gregoire and dozens of legislators and local officials, such as King County Councilmember Reagan Dunn. The plan is supported by a majority of the business and environmental communities that we represent and Washington state's labor community as well.

Admittedly, the roads-and-transit plan is not a panacea. It won't solve all of our transportation problems overnight — we're too far behind for that. It is, however, a major step in the right direction. We have to start sometime. If we delay, the problem will only get worse and the projects will only get more expensive.

For the first time, we have the opportunity to build real transportation choices to make it easier to get around the region, whether you are in a bus, train, car or truck, or riding a bike. If adopted, the roads-and-transit plan will ensure a brighter — and greener — tomorrow for the Puget Sound region. The future is in your hands. We urge you to vote "yes" for roads and transit.