House Passes Transportation Goals Bill

Substitute Senate Bill 5412 amends the statutory policy goals for the Washington Department of Transportation. The bill sets 5 new major goals for DOT, including:

• Preservation: to maintain, preserve, and extend the life and utility of prior investments in transportation systems and services;
• Safety: to provide for and improve the safety and security of transportation customers and the transportation system;
• Mobility: to improve the predictable movement of goods and people throughout Washington;
• Environment: to enhance Washington's quality of life through transportation investments that promote energy conservation, enhance healthy communities, and protect the environment; and
• Stewardship: to continuously improve the quality, effectiveness, and efficiency of the transportation system.

The bill as amended by the House expands upon these goals by including an additional section (section 6) that balances the needs of all transportation users including those using cars, bicycles and public transportation.

AIA/WA worked with the House Transportation Committee to also include a provision requiring the DOT to “Select engineers and architects to design environmentally sustainable, context-sensitive transportation systems that are integrated into the communities they serve.”

The bill now goes back to the Senate for concurrence with the House amendments.

AIA/WA Testifies on Transportation Goals

Today the AIA Washington Council’s Executive Director Stan L. Bowman, Hon AIA/WA, testified before the House Transportation Committee about future transportation goals.

Recent work on the Alaska Way Viaduct, State Route 520 floating bridge and the Interstate 5 bridge across the Columbia River have raised serious concerns about the goals under which the Washington State Department of Transportation (WSDOT) operates. AIA’s involvement in these projects have made clear that WSDOT is not handling such projects well.

First, WSDOT poorly handles relations with communities in the development, design and implementation of major transportation systems. These “mega-projects” have enraged the local communities about the lack of sensitivity to their community context and ignore community goals.

Second, WSDOT does a poor job of designing these mega-projects. WSDOT only uses internal agency engineers for nearly all of their projects. They do use consultants on a limited basis for guidance, but the design of the systems is performed by in-house engineers. The result is that recent project designs lack creativity and sensitivity to local conditions.

HB 2041, introduced by Representatives Fred Jarrett (R-41, Mercer Island) and Geoff Simpson (D-47, Covington & Black Diamond), and HB 2139, introduced by Rep. Simpson, would require WSDOT to adhere to several goals. These goals are described in the bill reports. HB 2091 also requires WSDOT to have greater focus on sustainability and carbon reduction goals.

The AIA/WA testified that while these goals are laudable, they still miss a major goal that transportation systems should be context sensitive and focus on design excellence. To support this testimony, Bowman distributed to the committee members copies of AIA’s 10 Principles for Livable Communities and a chapter from the AIA Publication Livability 101 titled Effective Planning for Regional Transportation.

To listen to the hearing, go to http://www.tvw.org/ and enter either bill number in the search engine.