Our quality of life depends on what happens to our roads

For many years now, this region has needed to make major investments in our transportation system. While we debate what to do, roadways become more congested and key facilities wear out.

The connections across Lake Washington provide a particularly good example. The Highway 520 bridge is vulnerable to catastrophic failure — there is no question of the need for replacement. Its counterpart, Interstate 90, is reaching critical capacity — a Washington State Department of Transportation study indicates that travel times from the Eastside to Seattle will double in just the next few years.

And the challenges won't get any easier. Major projects only get more expensive. And by 2030, the region's population will grow by more than 40 percent, adding another 1.2 million people to Snohomish, Pierce and King counties.

Over the past decade, we have made some progress. In 1996, voters approved the creation of a regional transit system and today that system is well under way. Sounder commuter rail and Sound Transit Express bus service connect the region's largest cities. Light rail from downtown Seattle to Sea-Tac Airport will open in 2009.

The state has also provided decisive leadership over the past few years, approving gas tax increases in both 2003 and 2005. We already see the results of these investments along our major highways — Interstate 5, I-405, Highways 167, 9, 518 and more. Voters also wisely rejected an ill-conceived effort to roll back these investments.

Despite these positive steps, it's not enough. We need the regional "Roads & Transit" measure that will go to voters this November.

Today, our region stands ready to complete the puzzle. The package that Sound Transit and the Regional Transportation Investment District (RTID) are bringing forward makes key investments throughout the region. If we don't make them, we'll regret it.

This package will make significant improvements to major highways across the region, add to our HOV system, improve freight routes, add more than 40 miles to our emerging light rail system, and add park-and-ride stalls that make it easier to use transit. The upshot of these investments will be reductions in delay; a transit system that provides fast travel times across the region, free of congestion; 160,000 additional transit riders taking tens of thousands of cars off the road every day; and an improved regional transportation system that's better equipped to handle the growth that's coming our way.

Residents of Mercer Island and East King County need the investments more than anyone. Our economic success and quality of life depend on our connections across Lake Washington. We live in constant fear that the Highway 520 floating bridge will sink. And the I-90 floating bridges still lack the rail-transit system that was envisioned when it was expanded in the 1970s.

The roads-and-transit package delivers a modern light-rail connection between Seattle and the Eastside and helps fund a new Highway 520 bridge. HOV lanes on both will allow more people and more vehicles to get where they need to go. The fixes are part of a logical and realistic plan:

First, we complete the addition of HOV lanes to the outer roadways of the I-90 bridge. This will improve bus and carpool operations and keep I-90 working for Mercer Island residents when the next step is undertaken, which is ...

Light rail across Lake Washington, which will provide a fast and reliable connection between Redmond and Bellevue to downtown Seattle, and the start of an Eastside system that can grow in the future. With travel times on I-90 rapidly worsening, this needs to happen as soon as possible. It adds a tremendous people-moving capacity and an alternative to traffic jams.

This prepares the region to handle the disruption that will take place during the final key step — replacing the 520 bridge.

For the first time in a long time, this region has a workable plan that has broad support and the resources identified to make it reality. The roads-and-transit package coming to the ballot in November completes the deal.