www.tricitiesbusinessnews.com/articles/report-focus-on-wa-highway-maintenance-less-on-public-transit

The 144 sodium vapor lights that illuminate the cables on the cable bridge over the Columbia River were added in 1996. To change the lights’ colors is a labor intensive, expensive job, as technicians must bolt colored glass discs over each light. The fledgling effort aims to build support to replace the bridge’s aging lighting system with a computer-controlled LED one. (Photo by Kristina Lord)

Report: Focus on WA highway maintenance, less on public transit

March 20, 2025

A conservative think tank says Washington state’s roads and bridges have done nothing but deteriorate since 2012 and state lawmakers need to refocus on maintaining them rather than propping up public transportation.

The Washington Policy Center details its takeaways on the state’s transportation system in the latest installment of its Report Card for Washington’s Future policy briefs. Among its findings:

Public transit boardings declined by 24% between 2012-23, even as transit agency revenues and operating costs per passenger ballooned.
In the past four years, the number of state-maintained bridges considered in “poor” condition grew by 65 to 229 bridges.
Traffic fatalities in 2024 were nearly double what they were in 2012, even though the state population only increased 15% during that time.

The center proposes a number of solutions to address the conditions of the state’s transportation system, including reforming transit agency governance, cutting unnecessary costs out of public road projects, prioritizing highway maintenance over transit and non-highway efforts and allowing revenue from the state’s carbon emissions fee to be used for fixing state highways and culverts.