QUADCO informs legislators about transportation needs

Grant, Adams, Lincoln and Kittitas counties' issues presented

COLUMBIA BASIN - Next time area legislators face a transportation decision, they will have more information regarding Grant, Adams, Lincoln and Kittitas counties.

The QUADCO Regional Transportation Planning Organization held a priority meeting in Big Bend Community College's ATEC Building Monday morning. The meeting followed attendance at the state Route 17 ribbon cutting.

Roughly 40 people were in attendance at the meeting, which included such transportation priority roundtable topics as the need for road maintenance, preservation and safety from representatives of Adams County, Grant County and Kittitas County, respectively.

Wilson Creek Mayor Kathy Bohnet, Grant County Public Works Director Derek Pohle and Port of Ephrata Manager Mike Wren, amongst others, spoke of the need for partnerships amongst entities in order to achieve goals.

Lincoln County representative Rick Becker spoke of the need for freight mobility.

TransCo Director Karen Bonaudi talked to the audience about economic viability and included a chance for several business representatives to talk about rail issues and needs.

State Department of Transportation Interstate 90 Snoqualmie Pass Project Manager Brian White concluded the event with a project update.

QUADCO Chair Gerry McFaul said the meeting exceeded his hopes. He pointed to the presence of House of Representatives Transportation Committee Chair Rep. Judy Clibborn and committee ranking Republican Rep. Fred Jarrett, both of Mercer Island, as "fantastic."

Where and how the transportation issues progress from the meeting isn't a decision McFaul gets to make, he said.

"Hopefully it's in a forward direction," he said. "In many ways we've gone backward in the last 10, 15, 20 years - funding, the fact we're not building new and we're not even maintaining the old anymore. Federal money is a big part of transportation funding. That's unknown, is that actually going to continue? That's going to go broke in a couple years, so then what happens?"

Rep. Bill Hinkle, R-Cle Elum, said the existence of a gas tax is in question because it's unknown how well people will tolerate it.

"The other issue we have, however, is the growing cost of projects right now," he said.

Hinkle said he is nervous about where the state might be later, asking what grocery stores would do if Interstate 90 shuts down.

"Without infrastructure, we're not able to expand anything," Rep. Judy Warnick, Moses Lake, echoed. "We were talking about recreation, our economic viability and residential areas. Just standing out there waiting for that ribbon cutting ceremony impressed me, the number of trucks coming through our communities, different types of trucks, the different types of products they're hauling. It's not just cattle and wheat anymore. And the number of cars coming through is incredible."

Jarrett hopes members from the QUADCO area will go to the west side and try to start building a coalition with the people in need of arterials there.

"In many areas we saw today or heard about, the farm-to-market road is the classic example, and that's county and city road money," Jarrett said. "We haven't done anything to help counties and cities since the 1980s, and they've seen their transportation dollars erode because the gas tax becomes less and less valuable each year."

Saying the same problems exist on the western side of the state with arterials as on the eastern side with farm-to-market roads should assist in putting together the coalition, which would allow gas tax money to be able to help fund the cities the same way the state is funded, Jarrett said.

Jarrett said there wasn't much different to come out of the QUADCO meeting he hasn't heard in his years dealing with transportation.

"All of these are basically the same stories and all of them have basically the same answer," he said. "If you want more infrastructure, you have to have more investment dollars to build it, and that's where we're going to have to go."

Clibborn said she has been trying to get all over the state.

"It seems like it has a different issue going on in each part of the state, there's just a commonality between all of them," she said. "Whether you're going on a wheat tour or you're going to an economic development (meeting), it's always got a theme of how important transportation is in the state."

Because of the coordination and partnerships involved, Clibborn feels the QUADCO area has a strong voice.

"That's a very important thing, it also means you've got prioritized projects," she said. "The only problem is there's no new money. However, that does not mean we will always have this. We will have to be looking somewhere in the future for new revenue. At that point, all of these projects have legs to stand on because of the partnerships."