Same Ol’ Song and Dance

About a nanosecond into any heated discussion of
Washington’s business climate, one of the participants will mention,
approvingly or derisively, the instantly infamous comment by Alan Mulally, that
“I think we suck.”

What’s been lost in the legend is that Mulally, then head of
Boeing Commercial Airplanes, was referring not only to the state’s business
climate generally but also to the regional transportation system and planning
specifically.

With the benefit of seven years of reflection since Mulally
uttered those words, we can make this evaluation: At least on the point of
transportation, he might have been understating matters.

That the region still seems to be mired in delay and
indecision, at least on the big-ticket stuff like the Alaskan Way Viaduct and
the Evergreen Point Floating Bridge, is of growing concern to those who run
businesses and worry about how they’ll get employees to work and their raw
materials and finished products into and out of the region. This is especially
true for those that don’t have a major
project like the 787 assembly plant to spur the government to action.

It’s not that Washington is incapable of getting something
done on transportation when it has a mind to. The second Tacoma Narrows Bridge
has been open for three years now. Work continues on expanding capacity on
Interstate 405. For a prime example of long-range comprehensive planning to put
capacity where it’s needed ahead of when it’s needed, take a look at the
highways looping in and around the Tri-Cities.

Where the problem lies, not surprisingly, is Seattle, where
successive mayoral administrations have taken a jaundiced view of
transportation occurring in private cars and trucks.

Never mind that State Route 99 represents one of just three
major north-south highway corridors through the region, and one that will be
increasingly important as age and wear take their toll on I-5. Even after
selection of a tunnel to replace the viaduct, Mayor Mike McGinn continues to
send signals that his preferred choice would be not to replace it with
anything. Meanwhile, the various parties continue to bicker over the floating
bridge even though, if dire warnings are to be believed, it’s a contest between
whether that bridge or the viaduct fails first.

Then there’s the continued fascination with light rail. It’s
a preoccupation that, outside the questions of cost, routes, capacity and
congestion-reduction effectiveness, is tough to take seriously given the
decision to remove from service the one light-rail line—the Waterfront
Trolley—that not only was a tourist attraction but also served an actual
transportation purpose in moving people (especially handy on game days at the
stadiums). I write this as someone who started and runs a newsletter devoted to
rail topics in the Pacific Northwest, including transit. But I have never
confused that enthusiasm for serious transportation planning.

So what’s to be done? Hope for an attitude change from the
mayor’s office? Wait for the governor to steamroll City Hall? Cede 99 to the
city’s dream of a pedestrian walkway (and try to squeeze I-605 in somewhere in
eastern King County)?

If the region’s transportation situation was serious enough
to warrant Mulally’s condemnation seven years ago, why isn’t there more urgency
now? One explanation is the nature of politics in Washington. Another is the
small matter of the recession, which has proven an effective if undesirable way
to reduce traffic congestion.

But if we believe that people will eventually return to
work, then transportation infrastructure will be of far more critical
importance than providing fodder for political fighting.

So here’s a suggestion that is no zanier than the ones
offered above: Bring back Alan Mulally, not to run Boeing but to be the state’s
transportation czar. He may not be a government official, but he has run two
companies (Boeing Commercial and Ford) with some familiarity with the
transportation sector.

Would transportation planning improve, especially if he had
the powers of a real czar, to make funding decisions without getting bogged
down in Seattle’s infamous “process”? It might. Here’s another pertinent
question: Would you like to find out if things can get worse? Thanks to a
rebounding economy, you soon will.

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