NO on I-985, the More Traffic Measure

Last Friday, the Secretary of State's office announced that Tim Eyman's initiative to worsen traffic was certified for the ballot.

NPI's Permanent Defense, in cooperation with dozens of other organizations, intends to fight and defeat this ill-conceived ballot measure that would make your commute even longer and more exhausting than it already is.

On the surface, Tim Eyman's Initiative 985 may seem to be redundant. Its sponsor says it is all about traffic light synchronization and roadside assistance crews, both things that the state and local governments already do.

But Initiative 985 is really about opening carpool lanes during rush hour and forcing the state to widen highways. After the money that I-985 steals from the state treasury has been spent on roadside assistance crews and light synchronization (which don't cost much money) it can only be spent on more lanes.

It's no joke. Remember, this is a Tim Eyman measure. Language deep in the initiative calls for new lanes and explicitly prohibits spending money on buses, light rail, heavy rail, bicycle lanes, park and rides, wildlife crossings, or ferries!

Because Initiative 985 opens the carpool lanes to all motorists during rush hour, it will have the effect of snarling buses, shuttles, and vanpools in bumper to bumper bumpers. As buses become more and more unreliable due to the loss of their dedicated lanes, more and more drivers will return to their vehicles, causing ever more traffic to fill up existing lanes and any new ones with an endless sea of cars.

Initiative 985 is guaranteed to make everyone's commute worse. Yours, mine, John Doe's, and Jane Q. Public's.

Initiative 985 will take precious time away from you that you would otherwise get to spend with your family because it would make it harder for you to get home from work. Especially if you cannot leave early.

Initiative 985 will also cost us all money. It would siphon $290 million out of the general fund during the next biennium (two year budget) and the rest of the current one. That's money that would otherwise be spent on our kids' education, one of the primary expenses of state government. Millions of dollars would instead be spent fruitlessly widening highways and encouraging people to drive.

It gets worse. Here's Floyd McKay:

I-985 is premised on the same linear thinking that demanded multiple nuclear-power plants 25 years ago, the presumption that, regardless of price, electricity use would increase exponentially forever. Wrong. Four-buck gas will cause people to drive less, use other methods of transportation and buy smaller cars.

Despite reduced driving, transportation construction costs will rise. It will be increasingly important to adapt, to innovate — and, yes, the Department of Transportation needs to see beyond asphalt, the most expensive alternative.

But the rigidity of locked-in rules hampers DOT's ability to change.

Rigidity brings bad ideas, such as restricting use of bridge tolls. I-985 would prevent tolling Seattle's Interstate 90 Bridge to help replace the Highway 520 Bridge. Tolling both bridges would be more equitable and keep toll-avoiders from clogging the "free" bridge, worsening congestion. The bridges are inextricable parts of the regional commute pattern and cannot be separated.

As he says, Tim's latest proposal is indeed bogus.

Protect yourself, your family, and your community from more emissions, more air pollution, more clogged highways, and more chokepoints by voting NO this fall on Initiative 985 - the More Traffic Measure.