Transportation summit revs up interest in local projects

MOSES LAKE — Leaders from around the area started off their week by listening to ideas on how to get transportation moving.

About 40 people gathered in Big Bend Community College's ATEC Center Monday for the first Central Washington Transportation Summit, called together by Karen Bonaudi, who represents transportation issues for the Washington State Potato Commission.

The forum's purpose was to provide an update on current transportation projects affecting the area and initiate discussion on needs and future activity. The objective was to inform community members and groups what transportation initiatives and plans are currently under way and begin discussion on a central Washington transportation plan.

At the forum's opening, Bonaudi explained she had been appointed to the state's transportation commission in July 2005, serving for two months. Because the WSPC is a state agency, she was removed from the commission, but not before she learned a lot about transportation around the state.

"Those are the kind of things we need to know, become a part of and experience in Moses Lake," Bonaudi told the audience. "What you will see here today, every voting citizen should know."

Presenters included Trent Marquis, who shared the success story of Yakima's TRANS-Action Program in addressing several transportation issues in the Yakima area, and Don Whitehouse, south central regional administrator for the state's Department of Transportation.

A progress report on Snoqualmie Pass came from I-90 project director Brian White, who explained how the state Legislature approved $387.7 million for the first phase of a project that will ultimately expand the pass. The project comes with three challenges, White said — the engineering challenge of building bridges out into the nearby lake, adjusting the alignment in what White called a "geotechnically challenging" area and communicating with the public and habitat connectivity.

"As part of the EIS (environmental impact statement) and working with the services, we found that I-90 acts as a barrier to the movement of wildlife between the different habitat areas up along I-90," White said. "So we're going to try to build a road that's permeable so that wildlife can move back and forth, they're not getting up on the road and having people hit them, because it's a safety concern for us."

Several speakers stressed the need for a group to identify the top priorities when presenting to legislators.

Sen. Joyce Mulliken, R-Moses Lake, who addressed state legislators' commitment to transportation in central Washington, told those in attendance that ground will break this spring on an expansion of Highway 17 from Interstate 90 to Stratford Road.

"You are the ones who have to come to me and tell me what you need," Mulliken told the audience. "Try to identify Grant County's needs and try to work together."

Moses Lake Mayor Ron Covey announced within his closing remarks that he had recently returned from a presentation group last week before the Transportation Improvement Board spearheaded by Grant County Economic Development Council Executive Director Terry Brewer. Moses Lake representatives returned from the presentation with about $1 million in funding for expansions for road construction projects at Guardian Fiberglass and REC Silicon, contingent upon those companies making the decision to locate in Moses Lake, Covey said, calling it a good learning experience.

"I can only see this group that we're talking about here today, whether it's central Washington or whether it's the Columbia Basin, or whether it's Grant County or whether it just is Moses Lake … coming together and being an in-road to some of the funds that are available at the state and federal level," Covey said.

"I am just thrilled with the turn out and the participation," Bonaudi said following the summit's conclusion. "We had a cross section of people, of communities really pumped about this."

While Monday's meeting was not closed to the public, most of the people were primarily present by invitation, Bonaudi noted, adding the next meeting on April 18 will be open to the public.

"We wanted to see if it generated any interest at all," Bonaudi said of Monday's meeting. "So the next one is where we will have a real full agenda of different participants in transportation. The people we want to attract are the people interested in hearing from the providers of transportation and the users, and we expect a real interactive give and take session there."

Throughout the summit, the idea that those in attendance should think about forming a transportation coalition kept finding its way into presentation and discussions.

"I think the most important message there is those kind of partnerships work," Bonaudi said. "If this community and this broader community of the central Basin feels that that is what it wants to do to help progress, then that's what will happen. But it will be up to the group."

The second summit will take place at 10 a.m. Tuesday, April 18 in the ATEC Building and

will probably run into the afternoon. For more information, e-mail Bonaudi at kbonaudi@potatoes.com.