Regional View September 2002

Regional View Newsletter

September 2002

Bark Europa, The Netherlands, on Elliott Bay

Table of Contents

Draft 2003-2005 Regional TIP to be Released for Public Comment and Review
How Will You Get to Work Today? Travel Survey Now Underway
Comment on the Region's Transportation Planning Process
Puget Sound Milestones -- Monitoring VISION 2020 and Destination 2030
Executive Board Adopts Regional Bicycle and Pedestrian Implementation Strategy
Puget Sound Trends: Population Change in the Central Puget Sound
Back Issues

Draft 2003-2005 Regional TIP to be Released for Public Comment and Review
The Puget Sound Regional Council's Transportation Policy Board (TPB) is scheduled to release the Draft 2003-2005 Regional Transportation Improvement Program (TIP) at its September 12th meeting for a formal public comment and review period.

The Draft 2003-2005 Regional TIP will contain the six regional transportation projects that the Executive Board approved for air quality testing at its July 2002 meeting. The six projects are to receive $37 million in federal funds and were selected from the TEA-21 Regional Project Competition applicants, based on the 2002 TEA-21 TIP Policy Framework targeting regional funds to supporting urban centers and the corridors that connect them. The projects are Urban Centers Transit Development, in 11 King County designated urban centers, SR 304 Transportation Improvement Project, in Bremerton, Lincoln Avenue Overpass, in the Port of Tacoma, Sounder Commuter Rail: Everett to Seattle Extension, Pacific Highway South/International Boulevard Redevelopment, in Des Moines, Federal Way, SeaTac, and Tukwila, and SR 704 (Cross Base Highway), in Pierce County.

The Draft 2003-2005 Regional TIP will also contain:

projects proposed by cities, counties and other agencies, and recommended through countywide processes in each county that are seeking $26 million in federal funds allocated by the Regional Council
additional projects proposed by cities, counties and other agencies that will be funded from federal dollars allocated to the state
projects proposed by transit agencies seeking $88 million in funding allocated by the Federal Transit Administration, and non-federally funded projects financed with state and/or local dollars that are regionally significant.

The Draft 2003-2005 TIP document will be released contingent upon a positive air-quality finding that the projects contained within the TIP meet federal air-quality standards. The formal comment period for the draft Regional TIP is scheduled from September 12 to October 10, 2002. Final approval action on the Regional TIP is scheduled for the October 2002 meetings of the TPB and the Executive Board.

The Draft Regional TIP will be distributed to approximately 400 agencies and individuals in mid-September for public comment. The draft document will also be mailed to major regional libraries and will be available at the Regional Council's Information Center, (206) 464-7532. Information will also be available on the agency's Web site, psrc.org. Written comments should be sent to the attention of Karen Richter, PSRC, 1011 Western Avenue, Suite 500, Seattle, WA 98104 or krichter@psrc.org.

City of Auburn officials celebrated and officially opened the new Charles A. Booth Bridge

In August the City of Auburn celebrated and officially opened the new "Charles A. Booth Bridge" in honor of former Mayor Booth. The project is an example of how federal funds available via the Regional Council are helping to implement Destination 2030, the region's long-range transportation plan. This FAST Corridor project was funded in part through $10.8 million from the Regional Council. The Transportation Policy Board plans to release a project list for the next round of funding from the Regional Council next month. For more information try the Web at psrc.org or call the Information Center at 206-464-7532.

How Will You Get to Work Today? Travel Survey Now Underway
The tenth wave of the Puget Sound Transportation Panel Survey (PSTP) began this month. The PSTP was designed to discover how people make daily travel decisions, how these decisions change over time, whether the people surveyed are aware of real time traffic information availability, and if this information plays into their travel decisions. Data collected in this ongoing survey is also used to update the Regional Council's Travel Demand Model, which simulates everyday transportation decisions.

Throughout autumn, surveyors will contact 1,730 households in the central Puget Sound region. Many of these households have already participated in one or more previous waves of the panel. Panel participants will be asked to record all travel they make for a 2-day period, as well as to indicate any traveler information they used before or during each trip and if that information affected the trip. The new data will be combined with similar data from the 2000 Wave and compared with baseline data collected in the 1997 Wave to evaluate the penetration of Advanced Traveler Information Systems (ATIS) in the region and how the awareness and use of ATIS has evolved over the past five years.

The nine waves of Panel data represent the longest-running continuous travel survey database in the United States. The data have been provided to a number of other studies and is used by planners and researchers throughout the county.

The Northwest Research Group is handling the project, funded by the ITS Joint Program Office of the USDOT in addition to Federal, State and local sources. The survey will be completed by March 2003.

For more information, contact Neil Kilgren at (206) 464-7964, e-mail nkilgren@psrc.org.

Comment on the Region's Transportation Planning Process

The Public is invited to attend a hearing sponsored by the Regional Council (PSRC), the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA), and the Federal Transit Administration (FTA) regarding regional transportation planning processes.

Every three years, the FHWA and FTA jointly review and evaluate the transportation planning process in all Transportation Management Areas (TMAs). This certification review includes Metropolitan Planning Organizations (MPOs) in areas that are in maintenance for air quality. As the MPO for the central Puget Sound Region, PSRC must be certified to assure that it has an adequate process for reviewing local plans and programs for conformity and consistency with Destination 2030, the long range Metropolitan Transportation Plan. The goal of the certification is to enhance the quality of the transportation planning process.

The Public Hearing will kick off the certification review process by providing the federal review team the opportunity to hear from the public and elected officials concerning how the transportation planning process is working in our region and how the process and procedures could be improved. The public hearing is scheduled for Monday, September 16th from 1 to 3 PM in the PSRC Board Room, Suite 500, 1011 Western Avenue, Seattle.

For complete agenda of the certification review please contact Mark Gulbranson, Chief Operating Officer, at 206-464-7524 or mgulbranson@psrc.org.

Puget Sound Milestones

. . .Monitoring VISION 2020 and Destination 2030

The central Puget Sound region experienced robust growth and particularly unique economic vitality between 1995 and 2000. Job growth outpaced population growth. The regional economy increasingly diversified. High technology bubbled up sharply and began to burst. Aerospace manufacturing peaked and began to slide, yet the economy overall continued to expand. New cities were created. Significantly more people were living in cities and towns. And more people were living in one county and commuting to work in another.

Puget Sound Milestones presents data describing the nature of this growth and change within the context of regional growth management policies -- which began to take effect in most parts of the region just prior to the expansion.

1995-2000 was not only a unique and robust period for the economy of the region, it was also the first significant growth period since enactment and implementation of the state's Growth Management Act. From the data presented, observations can be made about the region's relative success in meeting some key growth planning goals. Future editions of Milestones will report on other indicators.

Population Growth
The region experienced strong population growth from 1995 to 2000, primarily due to in-migration. The region's population grew by 251,300 persons at an average annual rate of 1.6 percent, to 3,275,800 million. King County absorbed 44.5 percent of this growth, but the rate of population growth was higher in Pierce and especially Snohomish counties.

Regional Population and Employment Change

Growth in the region's population and employment base over the last four decades has moderated the impact of fluctuations in the local economy and net migration over time.

The region has grown older and more racially diverse. Racial minorities comprise 21.3 percent of the region's population, up from 14.8 percent in 1990. The share of population between the ages of 45 and 64 jumped to 22.7 percent in 2000, up from 17.9 percent in 1990.

Job Growth and Diversification
The region's economy continued to diversify and is less vulnerable to cyclical industries such as aerospace and natural resources. Greater economic stability is largely due to growth and diversification in the services sectors.

Of the 264,100 new jobs added to the region from 1995 to 2000, 135,920 (51.5 percent) were Service sector jobs -- more than triple the increase in the Retail sector, which ranked second with a net gain of 41,530 jobs.

A More Diverse Economy

Since 1960, the region's economy has grown more diversified and become less vulnerable to cyclical industries. Growth in the Financial, Insurance, Real Estate and Services sector contributed substantially to the economy's diversification.

Despite two consecutive years of Boeing job losses from 1998 to 2000, Manufacturing posted an overall gain in employment of 5.5 percent from 1995 to 2000.

New Economy Jobs

Economic growth during 1995-2000 was uniquely characterized by the rise of "New Economy" and high technology industries, dispersed throughout the region, but largely concentrated within Seattle's downtown core and King County's Eastside.

Population and Employment, 2000

In 2000, King County was home to more than two-thirds of the region's jobs, and over half of its population.

Of 69,320 new jobs in East King County, 28,920 or 34.6 percent were considered high tech. Of 83,680 jobs gained in the Sea-Shore sub area (which includes Seattle), 14,250 or 17.0 percent fell into the high tech category. The emergence of a high tech job center within the region's metropolitan core of Seattle is a rather unique phenomenon not seen in other centers of the New Economy across the United States.

Washington's Central Puget Sound Region

Population, 2000:

3,275,847

Jobs, 2000:

1,666,411

Land Area:

6,288 square miles

Urban Growth Area:

980 square miles

Urban Growth Area

The region's urban growth areas (shown in white) contain 15.6 percent of the land in western Washington's King, Pierce, Snohomish and Kitsap counties. These urban growth areas are home to 85.8 percent of the region's population, and 47.7 percent of the state's population.

Population Growth Compared to Employment Growth
During 1995-2000 an increasing number of people appear to be living in Snohomish County, and commuting to King County to work. While this trend needs to be assessed within the context of the unique economic expansion of the timeframe, data does indicate that household decisions, labor markets and commute patterns are increasingly crossing county boundaries.

More data related to this apparent trend will become available from the Census later this year.

Regional Population, 2000	Population Growth, 1995 - 2000
	The great majority of the region's population growth occurred in its urban growth areas.
In 2000, the region's urban growth areas were home to 85.8 percent of its population.

Regional Employment, 2000	Population and Employment Change, 1995 - 2000
	From 1995 to 2000, Pierce and especially Snohomish counties experienced large population gains, while King County absorbed 80 percent of the region's job growth.
In 2000, 95.6 percent of the region's jobs were concentrated in its urban growth areas.

High Tech Employment Clusters, 2000	Job Growth, 1995 - 2000
High Tech jobs grew by 52,200 between 1995-2000.	All four counties were very successful in focusing job growth in urban growth areas.

Residential Growth
The region experienced a strong residential development market from 1995 to 2000, in response to the housing demand created by robust population and job growth. From 1995 to 2000, a net total of 151,600 housing units were authorized for construction. The largest share (66,760 or 44.0 percent) occurred in King County. Pierce and Snohomish counties contributed 35,280 units or 23.3 percent and 40,450 units or 26.7 percent respectively. Kitsap County authorized 9,110 units or 6.0 percent.

Permitted Housing, 1995-2000
Figure 5 - Permitted Housing, 1995-2000

The mix of housing types authorized for development during 1995-2000 differed across the region's four counties.

The mix of housing types authorized during this period varied from county to county, with King and Snohomish counties contributing significant levels of new multifamily housing, and Pierce and Kitsap counties permitting notable shares of mobile and modular housing.

Region Makes Progress in Managing Growth
Regionwide 87 percent of population growth, 96 percent of employment growth, and 82 percent of permitted new housing was located within urban growth areas from 1995-2000. The region's counties experienced differences in meeting this goal but each demonstrated increased success over time.

Urban Growth Areas
The core growth management policy of the Growth Management Act and VISION 2020, the region's comprehensive growth management strategy, is to focus the majority of the region's projected 20-year population and employment growth within designated urban growth areas.

During the 1990s, each of the region's counties worked to adopt and/or refine their urban growth areas, as well as comprehensive plans and development regulations in support of their growth management objectives. Most growth management programs were not fully in place until 1995.

Urban growth areas, encompassing 980 square miles, represent a small share (15.6 percent) of the region's total land area of 6,288 square miles, but account for the overwhelming majority of the region's population (85.8 percent) and employment (96.5 percent). The urban growth areas, as established, did well in recognizing and reinforcing existing population and employment centers, while protecting the region's rural resources and natural environment.

A full report is available on the Web at psrc.org, or by contacting the Information Center at (206) 464-7532 or infoctr@psrc.org. For more information on the Puget Sound Milestones program, contact Ben Bakkenta at (206) 464-5372 or bbakkenta@psrc.org. For more information on the Population, Employment and Housing report, contact Carol Naito at (206) 464-7535 or cnaito@psrc.org.

Executive Board Adopts Regional Bicycle and Pedestrian Implementation Strategy
In July, the Regional Council's Executive Board approved the Regional Bicycle and Pedestrian Implementation Strategy that was developed over the past year by the Bicycle Pedestrian Advisory Committee. "I'm so pleased the Regional Council collaborated to make this happen. The Strategy will serve as a regionally endorsed blueprint to assist agencies in the region that have a role in planning, designing and implementing bicycle and pedestrian projects or supporting education, encouragement, and enforcement programs," says Barbara Culp, Chair of the Bicycle Pedestrian Advisory Committee and Executive Director of Bicycle Alliance of Washington.

Research of trips made in the central Puget Sound region reveals a strong market for bicycle and pedestrian travel. Half of all daily auto trips are five miles or less (less than a 30-minute bike ride), and 16 percent are two miles or less (less than a 10-minute bike ride). 500,000 car trips each day are less than half a mile -- an easy 10-minute or less walk or a 2-3 minute bike ride. With geographically strategic investments in bicycle and pedestrian system improvements, together with the implementation of smart land use strategies and better education and incentive programs, many short auto trips could be shifted to walking, biking or transit trips, taking hundreds of thousands of cars off the road each day to help reduce traffic congestion for a relatively low cost.

The Strategy offers specific guidance to the region for how to most expeditiously implement the regional bicycle and pedestrian system outlined in Destination 2030. It supports the implementation of local networks and associated programs, provides detailed implementation guidance, and gives direction for how to effectively mainstream biking and walking into the overall regional transportation system. The Strategy is designed to help facilitate the Regional Growth Strategy, VISION 2020, and make Destination 2030 become a reality.

The Strategy can be downloaded at psrc.org/projects/nonmotorized/bikestrategy.htm. A hardcopy can be obtained by contacting the Information Center at (206) 464-7532 or infoctr@psrc.org. For more information, contact Ned Conroy at (206) 587-5670.

Population Change in the Central Puget Sound

The population of the central Puget Sound was estimated to have reached 3,362,000 as of April 1, 2002. The region's population increased by 86,100 persons or 2.6 percent since the 2000 Census, and by 38,300 persons or 1.2 percent since one year ago.

Growth in the central Puget Sound during the last year -- 38,300 persons -- was modest compared to the average annual increase of 51,100 persons per year experienced by the region between 1990 and 2002. Figure 1 depicts the annual change in the region's population from 1990 to 2002. Since last peaking during 1998-99, there has been a downward trend in population growth over the last four years, driven by a slowdown, then recession, in the region's economy, primarily due to job losses in the aerospace and technology sectors.

Figure 1.	Annual Population Change in the Central Puget Sound, 1990-2002

Source: U.S. Census Bureau, Washington State Office of Financial Management

Population Change of Cities and Towns
Since the 2000 Census, some shifts have occurred in the ranking of the region's largest cities by population. Table 1 presents the current 10 largest cities in the central Puget Sound and their rank by size in 2002 versus 2000.

Table 1.	Ten Largest Cities in the Central Puget Sound, 2002
Municipality	County	Population 2000	Rank by Size 2000	Population 2002	Rank by Size 2002
Seattle	King	563,374	1	570,800	1
Tacoma	Pierce	193,556	2	194,900	2
Bellevue	King	109,827	3	117,000	3
Everett	Snoh.	91,488	4	96,070	4
Kent	King	79,524	6	84,275	5
Federal Way	King	83,259	5	83,850	6
Lakewood	Pierce	58,211	7	58,580	7
Renton	King	50,052	9	53,840	8
Shoreline	King	53,296	8	53,250	9
Redmond	King	45,256	10	46,040	10
Source: U.S. Census Bureau, Washington State Office of Financial Management

The City of Kent rose from being the region's sixth largest city in 2000 to fifth in 2002. The City of Renton increased from the ninth to eighth largest city. The region's four largest cities continue to be Seattle, Tacoma, Bellevue, and Everett, respectively.

Six of the region's 10 largest cities -- Seattle, Bellevue, Kent, Everett, Renton, and Tacoma -- are among the municipalities that posted population gains of over 1,000 persons. Mid-size and small cities that also showed significant population increases include Bonney Lake, Snoqualmie, Issaquah, Marysville, Auburn, Puyallup, and Arlington.

Table 2 presents a list of cities and towns that experienced population growth rates of greater than five percent during 2000-02. Some of the region's fastest growing municipalities, which grew by more than 10 percent over the past two years, were Roy, Snoqualmie, DuPont, Bonney Lake, Issaquah, Granite Falls, Darrington, Sultan, South Prairie, Duvall, and Arlington. Annexation activities contributed significantly to population growth in Roy, Bonney Lake, Issaquah, Renton, Bellevue, and Kent.

Table 2.	Cities with Greater Than Five Percent Population Growth, 2000-2002
Municipality	County	Population 2000	Population 2002	Population Change 2000-02	Percent Population Change	Pop Change Due to Annexation
Roy	Pierce	260	865	605	232.7%	503
Snoqualmie	King	1,631	4,210	2,579	158.1%	0
DuPont	Pierce	2,452	3,295	843	34.4%	0
Bonney Lake	Pierce	9,687	12,360	2,673	27.6%	1,618
Issaquah	King	11,212	13,790	2,578	23.0%	796
Granite Falls	Snoh.	2,347	2,760	413	17.6%	0
Darrington	Snoh.	1,136	1,335	199	17.5%	44
Sultan	Snoh.	3,344	3,910	566	16.9%	0
South Prairie	Pierce	382	440	58	15.2%	0
Duvall	King	4,616	5,190	574	12.4%	0
Arlington	Snoh.	11,927	13,280	1,353	11.3%	40
Marysville	Snoh.	25,315	27,580	2,265	8.9%	209
Wilkeson	Pierce	395	425	30	7.6%	0
Renton	King	50,052	53,840	3,788	7.6%	570
Bellevue	King	109,827	117,000	7,173	6.5%	2,733
Buckley	Pierce	4,145	4,410	265	6.4%	0
Monroe	Snoh.	13,795	14,670	875	6.3%	6
Newcastle	King	7,737	8,205	468	6.0%	0
Kent	King	79,524	84,275	4,751	6.0%	882
Maple Valley	King	14,209	15,040	831	5.8%	0
Puyallup	Pierce	33,014	34,920	1,906	5.8%	159
Woodway	Snoh.	936	990	54	5.8%	0
Source: U.S. Census Bureau, Washington State Office of Financial Management

2002 population estimates for all cities, towns, and counties in Washington State are available from the Washington State Office of Financial Management Website at ofm.wa.gov.

The full version of this Trend, with additional figures and discussion, can be found on the Regional Council's Web site, psrc.org or by contacting the Regional Council Information Center at (206) 464-7532 or infoctr@psrc.org. For questions regarding the data presented in this article, contact Carol Naito at (206) 464-7535 or cnaito@psrc.org.

206-464-7532 - FAX 206-587-4825 - infoctr@psrc.org

Sign language and communication material in alternative formats can be arranged given sufficient notice by calling Grace Foster at 206-464-7090. TDD\TTY; 206-464-5409. Funding for this newsletter provided in part by member jurisdictions, grants from U.S. Department of Transportation, Federal Transit Administration, Federal Highway Administration and Washington State Department of Transportation. PSRC fully complies with Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and related statutes and regulations in all programs and activities. For more information, or to obtain a Title VI Complaint Form, see http://www.psrc.org/about/titlevi/index.htm, or call 206-464-6175.