Funding ‘biggest challenge’ facing Puget Sound transportation planning

“As we worked through the plan, it became very clear, very quickly, that funding was the thing standing in our way,” Kent Mayor Dana Ralph said at the PSRC’s annual general assembly on May 28. "It's not lack of vision, it's not lack of support. It's none of those things, it's really about the funding."

The PSRC is a is the regional planning agency for the central Puget Sound area and covers King, Kitsap, Pierce, and Snohomish counties. Its regional transportation plan acts as a blueprint for the various modes of transportation such as driving, public transit, ferries, biking, and walking. The plan includes projections of the amount trips per mode by 2050 that are updated along with the plans. 

PSRC Director of Transportation Planning Kelly McGourty noted that “as we think about the needed future investments to implement all of the plans, the projects, the programs in our long-range plans, it became very clear that our cities and towns face the largest gap in funding into the future.”

One potential source of new money for the region's transportation projects could come through the federal government via the Building America 250 Plan, Ralph said. “Start with D.C. right now," but also said "this is going to take funding from all levels of government."

However, McGourty also said that insufficient funding is a particular problem with the maintenance and preservation of the existing transportation infrastructure.

PSRC’s regional transportation plan notes that “the overall condition of the system has been declining, and current funding is not enough to meet the needs. Historic funding has not been sufficient to meet the maintenance and preservation needs, resulting in a pattern of deferred maintenance.”

Port Orchard Mayor Rob Putaansuu told the general assembly at its May 28 meeting that while they’ve faced challenges with capital project funding, maintenance and preservation “is the biggest challenge” for local governments.

In addition to being a member of the PSRC’s executive board, Putaansuu is also the chair of the Public Works Board, which oversees the Public Works Assistance Account’s revolving low-interest loan program that helps local governments pay for projects such as roads, bridges, wastewater and sewer management.

That account has been repeatedly tapped by the Legislature to fund the operating budget; the Legislature this session authorized $375 million bond debt to backfill the account after it withdrew that amount to pay for operating budget expenses.

“Difficult economic times come along - do we fund the police department or do we pave our roads?” Putaansuu said. “Probably not paving our roads. We’re getting left behind currently in this current plan.”

Cement paving index is numerical rating system from 0-100 to access the condition of roads. According to the PSRC plan, the regional PCI on average fell from 69 to 64, with a target grade of 70. That change leads to more than 50% increase in the cost dealing with the regional pavement maintenance backlog, according to the report.

However, the regional transportation plan warned that “the short-term savings resulting from deferred maintenance come at a cost. Deferred maintenance ultimately increases the region’s maintenance bill over time; not only will the maintenance eventually need to be completed but the relative condition of assets will be worse, meaning bringing them into a state of good repair will be more expensive than it otherwise would have been.”