Citizen advice on options for Destination 2030 -- a regional transportation plan now in the works -- shows support for a wide variety of transportation solutions including transit, roads, bicycling and walking.

More than 1,250 comments contained in 300 letters and e-mails came in during the public comment period on the environmental impact statement (EIS), which described three options for the plan:

Existing Funding: Do the bare minimum -- only projects that can be paid for with existing funding are included.

Update Current Plan: Continue with the Metropolitan Transportation Plan adopted in 1995 -- includes 290 more freeway lane miles, 950 more arterial lane miles, completes core HOV system and preserves bus and ferry service at about the same levels as today.

Plus Plan: Do significantly more -- all investments in the current plan are included, plus up to 392 more freeway, 1,146 more arterial and 157 more HOV lane miles. Transit service is doubled. The HOV system is completed, as are fixes to SR 520 and I-405.

Relatively few people directly addressed the three alternatives; most preferred to comment on specific programs and activities that are part of the alternatives. However, of those commenting directly on the alternatives, they narrowly favored the Plus option.

The chart below shows the various programs and activities that make up the alternatives. Additional investment in buses received the most positive comments, followed by roads and light rail. Roads and light rail received the most negative comments.

People also appear to be willing to pay for an improved transportation system, and expressed support for transportation pricing and for increased taxes to pay for transportation projects.

The Council's Transportation and Growth Management Policy Boards are tasked with putting together a final plan -- called a "preferred alternative" -- based on the comments received. The boards are scheduled to make initial recommendations on the draft preferred alternative on December 14. A final environmental impact statement on the recommended plan will be available for public review in early 2001.

For the latest information on Destination 2030, visit the Regional Council's Web site, psrc.org. For copies of Destination 2030 publications, contact the Information Center, (206) 464-7532, infoctr@psrc.org.

A new budget and work program now in the works will set the course for the Regional Council's activities over the next two years. The Operations Committee, chaired by Council Vice President Karen Biskey, is overseeing the budget process. A draft will be released in January for review by the policy boards, Regional Staff Committee, local governments and state and federal agencies.

The budget must be completed in time for a recommendation by the Executive Board in February and action by the General Assembly on March 29, 2001. Action by the Assembly in March gives the agency time to obtain grants necessary to fund the budget at the beginning of the new fiscal year -- July 1, 2001. For more information, call Mark Gulbranson at (206) 464-7524.

Before heading out the door, do you check a Web site to find out which roads are congested or if your bus is on time? The Regional Council is surveying 1,750 households in the region to find out how many use this kind of real-time traffic information and how it affects their commute. The survey is the ninth wave of the Puget Sound Transportation Panel Survey, which has been collecting data on how people travel around the region since 1989. In addition to a two-day travel diary, the households are also being asked to fill out a detailed questionnaire about how they use traffic information, whether they own or use telecommunications and computer services, and their attitudes and values related to time, traffic, transit, technology and travel in the region. A supplemental questionnaire asks respondents: Did you consult travel information prior to departure, en route, or both? Why did you consult travel information for this trip? What source(s) did you consult for information? What impact did the new information have on your trip? What did you learn about travel conditions that caused you to change your trip? What primary benefit were you seeking when you made a change to your trip? The questionnaire also will help reveal how electronically aware and capable the panel is. The survey respondents are asked: What electronic equipment and services are used in the household. Whether they use computers and the Internet at home or at work on a regular basis. What electronic equipment the respondent carries with them (such as cellular phone, digital assistant, portable computer). If they subscribe to any fee-based or free online information services (stock quotes, newsletters, and news, sports, and weather alerts), or to any e-mail traveler alert services like those provided by King County and Washington State Ferries. What traffic, transit, and ferry information services they are aware of and/or use, both on the Web and on other media. These include Internet sites like Puget Sound Travic Conditions, King County Metro Online, Vessel Watch, and Traffic NET, as well as traffic information from TV, radio, and telephone. Most of the questions are follow-ups to those asked in 1997. The combination of 1997 and 2000 data will provide a regional before-and-after measure of how new intelligent transportation systems are affecting the way the people of the region travel. The results from the questionnaire will help analysts estimate how many people use intelligent transportation systems, the benefits of these systems to the consumer, and the reasons why some tech-savvy travelers choose not to consult information. Field work on the survey will be completed in December. A final report and the travel and questionnaire data will be available in the spring of 2001. For more information, contact Neil Kilgren, (206) 464-7964.

Over two and a half years of careful study by the Governor's Blue Ribbon Commission on Transportation have culminated in 18 recommendations that call for funding a strong state and regional transportation system, emphasizing efficiency and accountability, with new strategies for financing transportation.

Of particular interest to central Puget Sound is the Commission's recommendations to empower regions within the state to "plan, select, fund, and implement ... projects identified to meet the region's transportation and land use goals." Under this recommendation, a regional authority could have responsibility to program and prioritize state and regional roadway projects within the region. The Commission members also noted that their intention is "to simplify and minimize structural redundancy rather than add new layers of government."

The Commission's recommendations now go on to Governor Locke and the Legislature for consideration. For more information, visit the Blue Ribbon Commission's Web site, www.brct.wa.gov/.

Blue Ribbon Commission on Transportation Summary of Recommendations

1. Adopt transportation benchmarks as a cornerstone of government accountability at the state, city, county, and transit district levels.

2. Establish a single point of accountability at the state level, strengthening the role of the state in ensuring accountability of the statewide transportation system.

Direct a thorough and independent performance review of WSDOT administration practices and staffing levels.
Remove the barriers to achieving the transportation benchmarks for efficiency and system performance by providing funding for a strong state and strong regional transportation system.
Invest in maintenance, preservation and improvement of the entire transportation system so the transportation benchmarks can be achieved.
Provide regions with the ability to plan, select, fund and implement (or contract for implementation of) projects identified to meet the region"s transportation and land use goals.
7. Achieve construction and project delivery efficiencies.

Incorporate the design-build process and its variations into construction projects to achieve the goals of time-savings and avoidance of costly change orders.
Use the private sector to deliver projects and transportation services.
Reengineer the workplace to achieve greater efficiency, and consider the use of managed competition for operations and maintenance functions.
Streamline permitting for transportation projects.
Link transportation funding to efficiencies.
Link maintenance and preservation funds to best practices.
Simplify funding distributions for best results.
Allow regions to retain funds they raise.
Seek a 90 percent fare box recovery for ferry system operational costs within 20 years.
Develop a package of new revenues to fund a comprehensive multi-modal set of investments, which, taken together with the recommended efficiency measures and reforms, will ensure a 20-year program of preserving, optimizing and expanding the state"s transportation system.

Provide regional entities the authority to raise tax and fee revenues to fund regional transportation improvements.

Begin action now to improve the transportation system.

(The Commission has recommended an early action strategy that raises $8-13 billion in new state and regional funds for meeting critical transportation needs.)

Blue Ribbon Commission on Transportation Revenue Recommendations, November 29, 2000

Sources	6-Year Estimates (2000$, Millions)	Year 1 Cost to User
State Flexible
Efficiency savings (10%)	214
Sales tax on the commodity price of gas (up to a set price cap)	1,100	$32
Surcharge on transportation goods at 2%	1,266
General Fund transfer of sales tax on transportation construction	510
Flat $20 charge on passenger vehicles and non-commercial trucks	360	$20
Subtotal all potential statewide flexible sources	3,450	$52
State Restricted by 18th Amendment
Gas tax increase of around 6 cents	1,100	$32
Gross weight fee on all vehicles	1,330	$40
Truck surcharge (FMSIB)	150
Extend $30 license fee to all vehicles	33
Ferry fare box recovery at 80% in 6 years	95
Subtotal all potential statewide restricted funds	2,708	$72
Bonding	1,800
(Less debt service)	(271)
Net bond proceeds	1,529
Total statewide sources	7,687	$124
Regional and Local Flexible
Local option regional sales tax (in Puget Sound Region at 0.2%)	687	$80
Local option VMT charge (in Puget Sound Region at 2 cents)	1,340	$116
Local option vehicle license fee at $50 (all counties)	557	$35
Bonding	1,500
(Less debt service)	(226)
Total regional and local sources	3,858	$231
TOTAL	11,545

Multifamily Housing Construction Slowing Down

The number of permitted housing starts in the central Puget Sound region dropped slightly from 1998 to 1999, marking the first decline in this growth indicator seen in four years. The region issued permits for a net total of 27,100 housing units in 1999, a decrease of 5.5 percent since 1998.

Single family construction remained stable from 1998 to 1999, while activity in the multifamily housing sector fell off slightly. The net number of permitted housing units overall, however, stayed well within levels established since 1996 when activity in the residential development market picked up after a lull from 1991-1995.

Figure 1 illustrates that since 1980, the major upswings and downturns in the region's housing market were driven primarily by shifts in the multifamily housing sector. Whereas the volume of single family and mobile home units authorized for construction remained relatively stable from year to year, the number of permitted multifamily units fluctuated dramatically over time in response to market conditions and demand. During the housing boom from 1985-1990, the region averaged a net total of 16,200 multifamily housing starts per year. In contrast, only 6,070 net multifamily units were permitted per year on average during the slowdown in residential development from 1991-1995. In the period from 1996-1999, that average has risen to 10,830 net multifamily units per year.

For more information on permit trends, see the December issue of Puget Sound Trends (this is a PDF file, viewable with the free Adobe Acrobat Reader).

A synopsis of permit activity in the region during the 1990s will be included in the Regional Council's report titled Residential Building Permit Summary: 1990-1999, scheduled for release in January 2001. For questions regarding the data presented in this article, contact Carol Naito at (206) 464-7535 or cnaito@psrc.org.

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