Published November 2001

Destination 2030 aims
to manage traffic congestion

By Kimberly Hilden
Herald Business Journal Assistant Editor

Think traffic is bad now? According to the Puget Sound Regional Council, the next 30 years will bring another 1.5 million people to the area, and daily travel will increase by 60 percent to about 16 million trips.

To accommodate that growth, the council's General Assembly has adopted Destination 2030, an "aggressive 30-year plan" that addresses the region's road, public transit, ferry and freight needs, said King Cushman, the council's Director of Transportation and Growth Planning.

During an Oct. 16 luncheon hosted by the Everett Area Chamber of Commerce, Cushman outlined the $103 billion plan, which includes:

• Adding more than 2,000 miles of new road lanes.
• Increasing bus service by 80 percent, adding at least 25,000 more parking spaces at park and rides, and adding 800 vanpools.
• Adding six passenger ferries and four car ferries.

But the plan is about more than adding capacity, Cushman said. It's about "the kinds of things we value as a region": quality of life, economic vitality and a healthy environment.

To that end, the plan aims to channel investments to support the growth strategies of local areas, including existing and planned urban centers, which encourage high-density, pedestrian-friendly developments with easy access to transit centers.

An example of an urban center on the right track is Everett, Cushman said, with its multimodal center, Everett Station, nearing a December completion date.

By February, the first transit providers should be operating from the station, including Community, Everett and Sound transits; taxi cabs; Greyhound and Trailways buses; and Shuttle Express. In the first quarter of 2002, Amtrak trains will begin using the station, with Sound Transit's Sounder commuter rail to Seattle and Tacoma arriving in 2003. Along with transit services, the station will include education, career development and retail facilities.

And it's just one of a number of projects — including the proposed special-events facility and the Hewitt Avenue streetscape project — that will lure people downtown.

"The city of Everett has taken an aggressive approach to develop ourselves as an urban center," city Planning Director Paul Roberts said, adding that traffic congestion on the freeways has created more interest in developing a strong Everett urban center, a place to shop, dine and enjoy entertainment opportunities.

"For perhaps the wrong reasons, the community may well be looking forward to a rebirth as we return to the role this community played during the 1930s, '40s and '50s," he said. "I make the prediction that if the trains do run on time, that part of that rebirth will be seeing people coming to Everett to get on the (Sounder) train."

Everett Station will have another part in the city's rebirth, with plans in the works for a "short loop" bus route to serve the downtown area near the courthouse, said Dave Koenig, head of the city's Long-range Planning Division.

"Every seven minutes, you can get on a bus in downtown to get to Everett Station," Koenig said, adding that the proposed Everett Transit route is scheduled to go into effect in February.

It's that kind of planning that will lead to more manageable traffic, and that's what the regional council is aiming to do with Destination 2030, Cushman said.

"We're looking at managing traffic, not necessarily expecting it to go away," he said, pointing to council projections that stop-and-go freeway congestion will grow to 57 percent of the freeway network without intervention and 33 percent with the implementation of Destination 2030. It currently stands at about 27 percent.

And more severe congestion could grow to 29 percent of the freeway network if nothing is done, while the council projects it will grow to 12 percent under Destination 2030. It currently stands at about 11 percent.

Now that there is a regional traffic plan, the challenge begins to fund it, Cushman said, adding that there is about $57 billion in place, leaving a $46 billion shortfall.

To help finance some of the projects, initiatives such as tolls might be an option, Cushman said, acknowledging the Tacoma Narrows bridge project and its use of toll lanes to help foot the bill.

According to the council, Destination 2030 will cost, on average, about $70 per person per month to implement — that's about $33 more a month than the taxpayer doles out now. Still, that's only a fraction of what a person pays each month to drive and maintain a car — somewhere between $420 and $510 a month in gas, maintenance and insurance, the council said.

And as time goes by without action, the price tag for traffic projects will just get higher, Cushman said.

"Early action saves money," he said.

For more information on Destination 2030, visit the council's Web site, www.psrc.org.

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