transportation

Brian Sonntag still lacks an opponent as he runs for his fifth term as State Auditor, but his record shows he cribbed from the Heritage Foundation, is consistently late in delivering audits and overpayed contractors. No wonder Tim Eyman likes him.

Sen. Chris MarrState Sen. Chris Marr (D-Spokane) wrote an op-ed for Spokane's Inlander Wednesday criticizing Dino Rossi's transportation plan. Marr admits that Rossi's plan seems too good to be true for the many folks stuck on clogged roads twice a day, five days a week, and he tries to show that it is too good to be true.

"Watching Dino Rossi roll out his $15.5 billion transportation plan in Spokane last month, it would have been hard for the average commuter to resist the temptation to join Representatives John Ahern and Lynn Schindler, Spokane County Commissioner Todd Mielke and local city officials such as Nancy McLaughlin and Diana Wilhite in singing its praises," Marr said in his editorial.

But Marr claims the plan is built upon a "$10 billion raid on the general fund" that "that steals scarce dollars from schools, health care and our prison system and continues lopsided funding for Seattle area projects."

Washington begins an effort to relegate traffic to the working poor when High Occupancy Toll (HOT) lanes open Saturday on SR 167. For some extra cash, anywhere up to $9, single-occupancy cars can pay extra to ride in the carpool lane, and to avoid the annoyance of carpooling.

When Republican gubernatorial candidate Dino Rossi unveiled his $15 billion transportation plan last week, it did not go unnoticed by the critics People from the media, the opposition and engineering and policy think tanks all weighed in with their two cents, often at the expense of the Republican's cost estimates.    read more »

The Washington State Democratic Party has released a youtube video ridiculing Dino Rossi and his transportation plan as "fantasy". The video, seen below, shows clips from local newscasts and editorials questioning whether or not his figures were accurate while Heart's "Magic Man" plays in the background.

Get this man some Sudafed. Dino Rossi promises to make “congestion relief” the number one priority. He even held his finger in the air for emphasis, “number one.” Congestion used to be known as “traffic,” but it’s evolved from a situation into a disease.  read more »

SULTAN - Unlike his earlier stop in Bellevue that was heavy on the press and the details, Dino Rossi's visit to Sultan this afternoon had the feeling of a small town campaign meet and greet despite the fact that it was stop two on his three-city transportation plan kickoff.

BELLEVUE - Surrounded by a slate of influential local Republicans like Rep. Doug Erickson, Rep. Glenn Anderson, Sen. Cheryl Pflug and King County Councilman Reagan Dunn, gubernatorial candidate Dino Rossi unveiled his new transportation plan this morning at the Bellevue Red Lion.

The detailed plan, called "progressive" by the campaign, contains $15 billion worth of projects meant to improve congestion, fully fund ferries and smaller road projects, and even repair more than a thousand state-controlled culverts to improve salmon habitat in order to better serve today's commuters as well as the millions projected to move into the state in the next 20 years.

Republican gubernatorial candidate Dino Rossi has just announced that he will unveil a statewide transportation plan at a series of three press conferences on Tuesday and Wednesday.