Share Your Ideas!
Over the past few weeks, we’ve held Roads & Transit open houses across the three-county region and the results have been great. We’ve talked with hundreds of citizens, local elected officials, and community leaders about where you want road and transit investments made. The recent WSDOT survey confirms what we’ve been hearing—that people believe the time to make these investments is now, and they support an integrated, regional roads and transit plan. Our next e-newsletter will provide greater detail about the survey.
As you know, we are working to balance the need for addressing safety, congestion, and growth issues while keeping the investments affordable. This is challenging given the rising costs of projects due to international price increases for many materials and labor. That’s why your feedback is so important—it will help guide our decisions as we narrow down the investment plan.
Our Blueprint for Progress outlines our principles, our process, and the potential projects we’re considering funding. Take a look at the Blueprint on our website and tell us what you think. What road-safety issues are you most concerned about? Where is the worst congestion in your region? Where do you want the investments made? Your thoughts and ideas will help us shape the plan.
We look forward to working with you and hearing from you as we move forward with improvements to our transportation challenges.
Regional Transportation Investment District
October 2006 Update
Hundreds Have Attended Roads & Transit Open Houses
Roads & Transit open houses across the region are wrapping up with great success—more than 500 people have attended and submitted more than 150 comments to date. The final open house will be held this evening, Tuesday, October 3, 4:30-7:30 PM at the Everett Events Center. Expert staff will be on hand to answer people’s questions and hear ideas about where investments should be made. Citizens also will have a chance to talk with RTID and Sound Transit board members about the plan being developed.
The open houses are a great opportunity to learn more about the regional Roads & Transit package to improve safety, reduce congestion, and give people more choices in how they get where they need to go. We’ve received excellent thoughts and feedback so far, and are grateful to everyone who has attended.
Online Survey Up and Running—Share Your Ideas!
RTID is collecting public comments to help us decide where to make regional road investments. The comment period closes Oct. 27, 2006 so now is the time to tell us what roads you’re most concerned about and what improvements need to be made. Telling us what you think is easy to do—just take our online survey. This confidential survey is being conducted for RTID by an independent firm.
One of RTID’s guiding principles is to keep the road investments affordable so we’ll have to make choices about where to invest our limited dollars. That’s why we want to know what your priorities are. In addition to taking the survey, you can e-mail us or attend the Oct. 13 RTID board meeting and testify. The meeting is from 9:30 AM to 1 PM, King County Courthouse 10th floor, King County Council Chambers, 516 Third Ave., Seattle. Public testimony is scheduled to begin at 10:30 AM.
Transportation is Still Number One
To anyone who lives or works in the Puget Sound region, it’s probably no surprise that transportation and traffic are the number-one regional issue on people’s minds today. Now we have the numbers to prove it. A recent WSDOT survey of 1600 voters in Snohomish, Pierce and King counties shows that people want a plan to fix our traffic problems that includes road and transit investments working together—and are willing to pay for it. In all three counties, people want to see more road, bus, train, and HOV investments. They also want unsafe bridges and roads to be replaced, travel times to be more reliable, and more options provided for getting out of traffic. This survey confirms we are on the right track. People clearly want significant road and transit investments that will make a difference.
Public Comment Period Closes October 27
Throughout the summer and fall, RTID has been getting the word out across the three-county region about proposed road investments. Maybe you saw us at a local fair or festival, advertising in the newspaper, giving a presentation before your organization, or asking for your ideas through our online survey. We want to hear your ideas by Oct. 27, 2006so that we can work through the fall and winter to develop a set of road investments that reflects your priorities. Please take a minute to e-mail or write to us (RTID, 411 University St., Suite 1200, Seattle, WA 98101 ) and let us know where you want road investments made. Once the package is refined, we’ll come back to hear your thoughts before finalizing the investments that go to voters in 2007.
For more information or to have the newsletter e-mailed to you, please contact info@rtid.org
