Now is the time to fix region's transportation system

The roads-and-transit measure, Proposition 1, on the November ballot is the best option we have to start fixing the Puget Sound region's transportation system. It has my strong endorsement.

The Puget Sound region is known around the world for innovation — software, airplanes, even coffee. It's not by luck that we have enjoyed so much success. We have benefited from great thinkers, entrepreneurs and leaders who weren't afraid to act on big ideas. They came from many different backgrounds — business, government, civic and nonprofit — but they worked together to shape this region and the success that we enjoy today.

Our great successes and our future successes, however, are threatened by the inadequacy of our transportation system. Transportation is one of this region's most challenging issues. The biggest idea in front of us right now is fixing our ailing transportation system, and the time to do it is now.

The roads-and-transit package is a compromise between the needs of this region to provide critical improvements to existing roads and bridges and the need to provide transportation alternatives for a growing population. It begins the critical work needed to enhance our freeway system, fix our bridges and substantially expand our mass-transit system by adding 50 miles of light rail. This plan will reduce congestion, and offer people more choices to get to and from work. It is our best shot at getting a robust multimodal transportation system for the Puget Sound region.

Some want more roads and less transit; others more transit and no new roads. Neither will — or should — succeed without the other.

Some say it costs too much, but delay will cost more. Proposition 1 is not cheap. Investments in infrastructure never are, and this region has under-invested in transportation for the past five decades, leaving bridges and highways in deplorable condition. Failure to address these issues now will make them more expensive and more dangerous the longer we wait.

When it comes to the environment, expanding light rail by 50 miles is an aggressive step in the right direction. This may not be the "perfect" plan, but it is the result of years of leaders working together to create a comprehensive package of critical projects that we can agree on as a region.

That is why the roads-and-transit package has broad support. Major employers, elected officials and almost every chamber of commerce and municipal, environmental and labor group in the region endorse it. They know and we know that if something is not done now about congestion, the region runs the risk of losing everything we have worked so hard to achieve.

The consequence and costs to this region of doing nothing are significant. Businesses may leave, innovative people may choose not to live here, and our quality of life and our economy may be degraded. We must solve this transportation conundrum and it's going to take all our participation to get it done.

The roads-and-transit plan is a good proposal that addresses the challenges we need to meet. This problem is for us to solve. There is no magic solution that will make the problem easily go away. Like leaders before us, we must be willing to act on this big idea.

The plan is in place. The need is great. The leadership is bold. The political will is strong. The agencies, Sound Transit and the Washington State Department of Transportation, have a proven track record of planning and building these projects. It will never be cheaper than it is today, and delay is not an option.

The decision you make now on transportation will impact the future of transportation and the economy in the Puget Sound region for generations to come. It's time to get serious about transportation in this region. It's time to vote "yes" on Proposition 1 this November.