If you want to see the priorities of the people who lead Washington State, look at their budgets.
That’s what we’ll be doing on Monday, March 24th, when Washington State lawmakers release several budget proposals to fund the state’s transportation system for the next two years. This year’s budget discussions will come with some tough decisions, as Washington is currently facing a budget crisis.
Every two years, legislators in Olympia must pass two budgets — an operating budget and a separate transportation budget. On top of a big gap in the operating budget, the state’s transportation budget faces its own challenge, with a projected shortfall of at least $1 billion for the next two years and $8 billion over the next six years.
Washington’s current transportation funding is inadequate, inflexible, and inequitable. It draws primarily from regressive funding sources, like the gas tax, that falls heaviest on people who make the least. It prioritizes costly freeway expansion projects over transit, walking, biking, and rolling. The resulting pollution from people who have little choice but to drive alone in cars harms all communities, and disproportionately impacts Black, Indigenous, and other communities of color.
Washington lawmakers must prioritize sidewalks, trails, and transit when preparing the 2025 transportation budget. With the federal government slashing transportation funding, we want to see Washington step up to fund our most important transportation needs: rebuilding and redesigning our roadways, fixing our most dangerous roads, and investing in transit, walking, and biking.
Transportation Choices Coalition is advocating for a budget that will:
- Increase funding for sidewalks, trails, transit, and rebuilding our roads
- Reassess costly and dated freeway expansion projects
- Get serious about budgeting with new revenue and smart investments
- Use new revenue to fund a Megaproject for Safety & expand intercity bus service
Increase Funding for Sidewalks, Trails, Transit, and Rebuilding Our Roads
Currently, the state’s transportation budget allocates only 11% to road preservation and maintenance and 5% to public transit, compared to 33% for highway improvements. Washington must continue to fund investments in transit, biking, and walking that make it safer and easier for people to get around, give an alternative to traffic, and reduce pollution. We also need a “fix-it-first” approach that prioritizes funding for desperately needed preservation and maintenance work to make our roads safer and more reliable
Reassess Costly and Dated Freeway Expansion Projects
Highway “improvements” are the single biggest chunk of Washington’s transportation budget. The budget deficit largely stems from rising costs from building roads, particularly highway widenings and freeway expansions. Declining revenues and inflation have exacerbated these financial challenges. The legislature faces a choice: scale back expansion projects or increase the gas tax.
It would be unfair to divert funds from transit, walking, and biking programs to cover these deficits. Despite comprising only 5% of the state’s transportation budget, these programs are vital for addressing the traffic safety crisis, reducing congestion, and cutting pollution. As highlighted by The Urbanist, freezing the entire bicycle and pedestrian safety grant program and Safe Routes to School program for two years would save the same amount as postponing a single highway expansion project—the widening of SR 9 in Snohomish County. The legislature should focus on delaying costly freeway expansions rather than cutting essential safety and mobility programs.
Get Serious About Budgeting with New Revenue and Smart Investments
We strongly oppose any new fees on electric bikes and buses. Making it more expensive to bike or take the bus will only encourage more people to drive alone, worsening traffic and pollution and exacerbating congestion and emissions. Bus fees are essentially a tax on a public good and would effectively transfer locally raised transit revenue to the state. Since most transit agencies rely on local taxes to fund their operations and maintenance, these fees would undermine local transit systems and limit their ability to provide reliable service.
The state should lead on serious progressive sources of new revenue, like a Road Usage Charge, to generate long-term funding for safer roads, more accessible sidewalks and bike lanes, and better public transit.
Use New Revenue to:
- Fund a Megaproject for Safety to transform our most dangerous roadways — state-owned highways that run through cities and towns. In 2023, more people were killed walking or biking than in any other year on record, and 47% of these fatalities occurred on roads managed by the state. We want Washington’s leaders to make a bold investment to transform these roadways into safe and thriving streets for our communities.
- Expand Intercity Bus Service. Intercity buses connect rural communities to other towns and cities, healthcare facilities, and job opportunities. A WSDOT proposal for expanding intercity bus service would create new routes from Ellensburg to the Tri-Cities and the Tri-Cities to Spokane via Moses Lake and make existing routes run more often. Implementing all of their recommendations could more than double ridership on our intercity bus network. These investments would also help prepare Washington to meet the transportation demands of the World Cup in 2026.
Stay Informed
Budget proposals will be released on Monday, March 24th. To receive timely updates and action alerts, sign up for TCC’s emails here.
