• Scope of Region's Long-Range Transportation Plan Update Takes Shape Through Public Participation
• General Assembly to Adopt VISION 2040, Awards Will Feature Bill Ruckelshaus
• Comment on JARC and New Freedom Program Management Plans
• Puget Sound Trends: Development Patterns Shift Under Growth Management
• Back Issues

Traffic congestion, climate change, tolling, and better identifying the priorities for transportation investments were among the top things people say the Puget Sound Regional Council should focus on in updating the region's transportation plan and extending the plan from 2030 to 2040.

That's some of what PSRC heard this past winter from almost 1,000 comments in an initial round of broad public outreach in each of the region's four counties. Over the next two years the current regional transportation plan, Destination 2030, will be updated with that input, and much more.

Highlights of what people said include:

• About 60 percent of comments related to traffic congestion and mobility and the environment, with an emphasis on climate change.
• Nearly 100 comments said it was important to align transportation planning with land use and the economy, including coordination with Regional Economic Strategy and the new regional growth strategy, VISION 2040.
• Tolling, transit investments, better system management, enhancing transportation funding and better prioritization of projects were also among the most common topics people said the plan should address.

You can find a complete report on the scoping phase of the plan update online at psrc.org, or by contacting the Information Center at 206-464-7532.

The long-range regional transportation plan - developed and kept current by the PSRC - is a significant requirement for keeping federal transportation funding flowing to the region. It serves as a foundation for regional decision-making - better assuring that near-term regional transportation decisions are coordinated and mindful of longer term regional interests. Updating and extending the plan keeps it current, and is an opportunity to improve planning and reflect evolving best practices in transportation.

The region's population is expected to grow by roughly 1.4 million people by 2040 to roughly 5 million, and jobs are expected to grow by 1.1 million. The regional plan anticipates the nature of that growth and strives to keep pace and get ready for the changing ways more people and goods will get around in the future.

The plan is focused on regional interests and is inclusive of most all aspects of regional travel, including: roads, transit, ferries, freight, pedestrian, bikes, rail, aviation, technology and system management. The plan anticipates overall costs and includes financial strategies to pay for sustaining existing systems and paying for improvements.

The central question to be addressed by the plan update is: How can the region best provide the mobility required to support a growing population to the year 2040, sustain the region's environment and economic vitality, improve system safety and efficiency, and enhance the region's overall quality of life?

Data development and analysis required to support decisions about the plan update is well underway. As the plan update unfolds, new data (looking ahead to 2040) will support consideration of different alternatives to the region's transportation plan future.

All of this work is led by the PSRC's Transportation Policy Board. In the coming months the board will guide the development of plan alternatives and select criteria to be used in evaluating plan alternatives. Input from anyone interested is encouraged throughout development of the plan, but the next important phase of public review and comment is expected this fall, when the alternatives are released.

The plan update includes an Environmental Impact Statement process that will cover a broad range of topics. That analysis will focus on the key issues of air quality, water quality (particularly the health of Puget Sound) and climate change.

You can expect alerts on key milestones in the plan update in Regional VIEW. Or you can check in anytime at psrc.org, or contact PSRC's Information Center at 206-464-7532, info@psrc.org, to stay engaged in the process.

PSRC has released the Job Access Reverse Commute (JARC) and New Freedom Program Management Plans for public review and comment. These plans document administrative and project selection guidelines for JARC and New Freedom funding. These projects play important roles in the mobility of special needs populations and the coordination of special needs transportation services.

Written comments received by April 29 will be included in the agenda packet for the Transportation Policy Board meeting on May 8, when it finalizes a recommen-dation to the Executive Board. The Program Management Plans are scheduled for final Executive Board approval on May 22, 2008.

For more information, contact Mary Pat Lawlor at 206-971-3272 or mlawlor@psrc.org.

This public notice of public involvement activities and time established for public review and comments on the JARC and New Freedom development proc-esses will satisfy the FTA's Program of Projects requirements.

Recent trends and growth patterns show that the region has made significant progress implementing the Growth Management Act with the region's current adopted growth strategy, VISION 2020. A central goal of the Growth Management Act is for the state's populous and fast-growing counties to direct new development to designated urban growth areas (UGA) in order to curb sprawl and protect rural and resource lands. From 1995 to 2006, 85 percent of all new housing units permitted for development in the re-gion have been located within the UGA; the remaining 15 percent were permitted in the region's rural areas. Over time, the region and all four of its counties have successfully directed increasing shares of permitted new residential development to their designated urban growth areas; regionally, the percentage in-creased from 77 percent in 1995 to 88 percent in 2006.

Within urban growth areas, the Growth Management Act encourages that development be first directed to areas where adequate public facilities and services exist or can be provided in an efficient manner. In addition, regional policy promotes higher density infill and redevelopment in such areas to make efficient use of avail-able urban land and existing infrastructure in accommodating new growth. In general, infill and redevelopment activities are more likely to occur in the region's older, centrally located and more built-out cities and communities (see Figure 1, Metropolitan Cities, Inner Suburban and Outer Suburban Communities (Represented by Census Tracts. Note: Census tracts were consolidated in areas where tract boundary changes occurred from 1990 to 2000.).

Of the new residential growth that occurred within the UGA since 1995, roughly half of it was absorbed by communities in the region's urban core in places such as the region's five metropolitan cities - Seattle, Bellevue, Tacoma, Everett and Bremerton - and other inner suburban communities that are typically well served by existing public facilities and services. Development in the metropolitan cities, a significant portion of which likely occurred as higher density infill and redevelopment activities, appears to have increased over time. However, a sizeable share of the new growth also continued to occur in the region's outlying suburban areas that are less easily served by existing public infrastructure (see Table 1).

The region's metropolitan cities - where a significant share of development occurs as infill and redevelopment - experienced a significant rise in development activity during the current decade compared to the late 1990s. Annual housing unit growth averaged 4,800 units per year during 2000-2007, an increase of 1,600 units per year - or 52 percent - over 1995-2000 levels. The metropolitan cities' share of total housing growth in the UGA rose to 25 percent for the 2000-2007 period, up from 18 percent for the 1995-2000 period.

In contrast, the inner suburban communities - where a fair amount of infill and redevelopment activity can also occur - experienced slightly more robust housing growth during the late 1990s (an average of 5,700 units per year) than during the current decade (an average of 5,300 units per year). The inner suburban com-munities' share of housing growth in the UGA decreased from 32 percent for the 1995-2000 period to 25 percent for the 2000-2007 period.

Together, the metropolitan cities and inner suburban communities accounted for roughly half the growth in the UGA's housing stock during both time periods, while the outer suburban communities - where the least amount of infill and redevelopment occurs - captured the remaining half. Consistent with overall trends for the UGA, average annual levels of housing growth in the outer suburban communities were moderately higher during 2000-2007 (9,500 units per year) than during 1995-2000 (8,800 units per year).

For more information, contact Carol Naito at 206-464-7535, cnaito@psrc.org, or Rebeccah Maskin at 206-464-5833, rmaskin@psrc.org.

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