Evans School faculty and students have completed a study of the prospects for the finance of transportation systems in the Central Puget Sound Region. The report covers King, Snohomish, Pierce and Kitsap counties in the forthcoming fourteen year period (2009 to 2023). The study demonstrates clearly the challenges to financing transportation systems, especially in face of increasing transportation demand grounded in the region’s expected population and job growth.
Download the report (1.3 MB PDF)
The study used budget information and historical trends from public agencies including the Washington Department of Transportation, county governments and transit agencies, and state records on the experience of cities. Projection tools were developed to extend the information across the time frame of the study. Several public agencies offered formal or informal comments as the work unfolded. The research benefitted from exchanges of information with staff at the Puget Sound Regional Council who simultaneously have worked on a longer-term look at regional transportation finance to support the on-going Transportation 2040 planning exercise. Our team, faculty members Leslie Breitner and Dan Carlson and two graduate students consulting with former state transportation secretary Doug MacDonald, are grateful for the assistance received.
The results of the study show prospects under current revenue authorities:
- From what sources funds for transportation systems will be raised
- Who will direct spending to specific projects and programs
- In what manner the flow of revenues will cover current requirements such as maintenance and operations of the systems
- What likely funding capacities will be available for capital investment, both in system preservation and system expansion, considering separately the region’s state highways, county roads, city streets, local county transit systems and Sound Transit.
Download the report (1.3 MB PDF)
Published on February 9, 2010
