The Times endorses
Smart transportation

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In Issaquah, where growth and runnels of traffic have brought some of the worst congestion anywhere, a bond measure before voters Nov. 2 could help the city, its neighbors and the region.

The issue is a $3.6 million bond measure to create ITS — an Intelligent Transportation System — to guide traffic flow, coordinate lights and even add a reader board for commuters displaying which on-ramp to I-90 has the fastest lanes. Intelligent Transportation Systems are currently used in both Bellingham and Bellevue. They use fiber optics to centralize traffic information and allow some efficiencies by routing traffic and keeping traffic lights synchronized.

For Issaquah, one of the most wired cities in the region, this is a natural evolution toward a solution technology. The 20-year bond measure, if approved, would add about $30 a year in local taxes to a $300,000 home.

Among the traffic corridors to be coordinated through an ITS are some of the most maddening in the region — Gilman Boulevard, East Lake Sammamish Parkway, Front Street and Highway 900, which will soon have a new urban village near the intersection of I-90.

Issaquah made a decision to be a retail center for a wide region, from Sammamish to Maple Valley. It attracts traffic to make cash registers sing. Yet it remains both a bedroom community to Bellevue and Seattle and has remnants of a semi-rural village on the edge of Tiger Mountain.

Issaquah will continue to grow and be a magnet city. For that reason alone, voters should approve Proposition No. 1 and adopt ITS.