Many people are justifiably skeptical about promises made by the Seattle-centric folks at Sound Transit (ST). Maybe it’s because they’ve heard ST’s promises before, and found them false.
Or, maybe it’s because they drive in the city of Seattle, and have discovered that the transportation planners there don’t appear to know much about transportation…or planning.
The Puget Sound Business Journal provided some perspective on Seattle’s traffic problems, pointing out that “despite the City of Seattle having $74 million at hand to improve the Mercer corridor, traffic is just as bad as it was two years ago, according to new data from TomTom. Peak morning congestion, between 6 a.m. and 9 a.m., on the 1.74-mile stretch of Mercer Street from Elliott Avenue to Interstate 5 has improved by two seconds since 2014, according to TomTom data.”
That’s right – $74 million spent, to improve traffic flow by 2 seconds.
Of course, that won’t keep those planners from trying to waste more tax dollars to get nothing done. As the story noted, “Earlier this year, city leaders announced they would spend $1 million to improve the timing of lights on Mercer, but ‘acknowledged that would not speed up commute times,’ according to a KIRO report.
Only in Seattle…
Maybe if there was some rapid, dependable way to get from Northgate to downtown Seattle without driving on I-5, traffic in the Mercer corridor wouldn’t be so bad?
Or maybe, if Seattle’s liberal policies actually killed jobs and really drove employers away, traffic in town wouldn’t be so bad?
Let us know when either of those will happen.
Maybe if there was some rapid, dependable way to get from Northgate to downtown Seattle and have somebody from Southeast King County pay for your ride, somebody who will never, ever, be able to use the system conveniently, it’d be a double plus bonus.
Well, it’s not like anyone from Spokane is going to pay for upgrades to Seattle’s transportation systems, now are they? That money flows firmly in the other direction, which is exactly how your fellow self-proclaimed rock-robbed and thoroughly self-reliant opponents of governmental redistribution of wealth want it.
The whole state is contributing to Seattle. The 2 mile SR 99 Tunnel Project is being paid by state and federal gas taxes to the tune of $2.64 billion. Seattle will contribute less than $500 million with half of that being tolls – if the projections are correct.
$3.1 billion for two miles. $1.55 billion per mile.
The Channel Tunnel project (1994) was 31.35 miles and cost $562 million per mile in 2016 dollars.
The Seikan Tunnel was 33.46 miles and $219 million per mile in 2016 dollars.
Seattle gets their share.
The whole state is contributing to Seattle.
Dead.
Flat.
Wrong.
Here are the real numbers. King County receives 95 cents of WSDOT expenditure for each dollar its taxpayers contribute to WSDOT.
Think about that for a moment: with WSDOT building two huge highway projects concurrently in King County — the SR-99 tunnel and the SR-520 rebuild — King County’s taxpayers still subsidize the rest of the state just via WSDOT alone. (This is, of course, but a tiny fraction of the $2.4B annually which King County’s taxpayers provide to the rest of the state.)
Seattle gets their share.
Like Biff, you believe if you just keep repeating it, it magically becomes Truth, eh?
“Like Biff, you believe if you just keep repeating it, it magically becomes Truth, eh?”
No. I just repeat things like you – aren’t you flattered?
Here are the real numbers
Your analysis is only valid through page 11.
If you look further, for the 2003 ($.05) and 2005 (.095) gas tax increases you are….
Dead.
Flat.
Wrong.
The report doesn’t include the new $.11 projects, but they may be trending the same. From 2003, the gas tax has increased 63% for THE WHOLE STATE, including Spokane.
From the 2003 tax increase, Puget Sound receives $1.15 for every dollar. The rest of the state receives $.84. King County get $1.08.
From the 2005 tax increase, Puget Sound receives $1.10 for every dollar. The rest of the state receives $.87. King County get $1.18.
So, for the tax increases of the last decade, King County is receiving more that it pays in. Spokane is investing in Seattle projects.
Recently, in the Everett Herald, we see that Sound Transit projects for North and South King County have brought in $4.96 billion, but spent $6.21 billion. East King County has paid in $530 million more than they have received. Snohomish County is at a $170 million deficit and Pierce County has a $30 million deficit.
Golly Gee Willikers! It seems that everyone is subsidizing Seattle these days.
Yes, the projections show, that if current trends continue, the two major capital improvement projects may push King County into actually receiving more from WSDOT than it pays. But those are mere projections, not the documented reality which has already happened.
Let’s see what really happens with all of that tasty, tasty pork we’ll spend on boondoggles like the North-South Freeway in Spokane.
“Well, it’s not like anyone from Spokane is going to pay for upgrades to Seattle’s transportation systems, now are they?”
No, They’re not. Not yet anyway. Not until you Seattle transit leeches figure out a way to get in their pockets, too. When your insatiable Seattle-centric lust for tax $$$$$ proves to be great for the rest King County to satisfy, you’ll be looking east of the mountains.
In a majority of the last 30+ years and as recently as 2013, you Democrats controlled the State House, Senate and Governors office not to mention a leftist Supreme Court yet in all that time, absolutely zero was done to address this egregious problem of rock-robbed (sic) wealth distribution. Perhaps you and the other two members of the beret-and-goatee club down at Komrade’s Koffee are the only ones butthurt about it.
Maybe if there was some rapid, dependable way to get from Kirkland to Renton without driving on I-405… Wait, there isn’t and never will be although we pay the same taxes you sponges do. For $54 Billion, we get maybe a new bus route.
Maybe whoever wants a rapid, dependable way to get from Northgate to downtown Seattle without driving on I-5, the possibility of going from SeaTac airport to UW in less than an hour or travel between any other two fixed points should pay for it themselves and leave the majority of the rest of us alone. Like you’ve said about HOT lanes, 100% farebox recovery of all light rail costs is “the perfect user fee”. Yeah, like that would ever happen.
Light Rail simply continues the glorious liberal tradition of picking winners and losers, and the corruption that goes with it.
The article failed to mention 30,000 more cars traveled through the corridor though. I’m not saying the project was some clear success and not largely driven by the South Lake Union developer (largely Allen) but it would help to provide all the facts.