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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