I know of a number of conservatives here in eastern WA, including myself, who voted ‘no’ on the $30 car tabs. We do not deal with the Puget Sound transit situation and our tabs pretty much stay under $100. Improvements and maintenance do cost money. We are building a bridge here — badly needed - that wouldn’t have been started if the restriction had been in effect.
(1) I regularly work with and party with civil engineers who consult for WSDOT and Sound Transit. I have also attended both WSDOT and Sound Transit public meetings for consulting engineers to explain contracting opportunities on Public Works Projects. While not a civil engineer, I am a registered engineer. What I have heard and seen is a culture at Sound Transit and WSDOT that cares far more about politics, political correctness and the environment than on efficiently spending public money on infrastructure. Yes, there are lots of bridges and roads that need repair, but until the management of WSDOT and its culture is changed, virtually no amount of state raised money will be enough to get things repaired.
(2) WA state has one of the highest gas taxes in the USA. That money is suppose to be used to roads, bridges, etc. WSDOT is lobbying the Legislature to allow it to implement a mileage charge annually in addition to gas taxes, car tabs, and road tolls. WSDOT is working on rolling out tolling from Lacy to Marysville as an additional source of revenues. I know this from talking to people about the engineering contracts to design the tolling infrastructure. The push for greater and greater sources of money to fund WSDOT is beyond belief.
(3) Sound Transit has lied to the voters and the Legislature about the costs and funding of its various projects. It has also illegally pressured construction firms and consultant firms to politically lobby the public and Legislature on its behalf. In addition it has violated various laws in allowing its email database on riders to be used by political action committees that favor Sound Transit.
Neither Sound Transit nor WSDOT can be brought into an efficient culture with small management changes. They need to be essentially destroyed and started from scratch. I favor outsourcing both.
I agree to disagree with you. As to getting bridges fix, look at what Seattle Dept of Transportation told the Magnolia Heights folks about the old unsafe Magnolia Bridge. They didn't have the money to do the repair and had not even tried to schedule it into any budget planning cycle.