Last week a span of the I-5 bridge over the Skagit River collapsed after being struck by an oversized load on a truck. The event captured our attention, here and internationally. 

Fortunately no one was seriously injured. Yet the collapse forced reporters, elected officials and Washingtonians to ask tough questions about the state of our transportation infrastructure and what we have failed to fund.

The collapse reminded us we have failed to adequately maintain our bridges. America has 68,000 structurally deficient bridges, including at least 135 in Washington. The Seattle Times has this interactive map of them, and Transportation for Washington compiled this helpful guide to bridge engineering terms.

We are also falling behind in road maintenance. In its 2012 Gray Notebook, WSDOT reported: “Pavement condition has been declining since 2008,” and “WSDOT’s pavement rehabilitation backlog increased by $44 million to $220 million from fiscal year 2011 to fiscal year 2012.” That’s just for state roads; our cities and counties are also failing to keep up with their roads – as any person who bikes around Seattle can tell you from personal experience.

In an article in Grist, Transportation for America’s David Goldberg reminded us of the underlying politics: “The new stuff, the ribbon-cutting, always competes with maintenance.” We’re drawn to ribbon cuttings, new projects and headlines, while basic maintenance — the public’s top priority — goes underreported on and underappreciated.

While the need to focus on maintenance and safety is a clear lesson from the bridge failure, the well-heeled highway lobby is trying to use it to push their pet Columbia River Crossing project. The costly mega-project is not mainly about a bridge — about 25% of the cost is for a new bridge, while half is for five miles of highway expansion, including several huge new highway interchanges. The existing bridge spans are structurally sound and have 55 years of life left in them. So funding the CRC would divert money away from fixing our truly ailing bridges and roadways.

Jonathan Maus of BikePortland.org concluded: “If anything, this bridge collapse should remind us of how ridiculous it is to keep pouring billions into new highway projects [like the CRC] while existing infrastructure gets worse and worse.”

Mara Gross of the Coalition for a Livable Future had a similar response: “In poll after poll, the public says their top priorities are safety, maintaining what we have, and creating complete transportation choices… [but we're] spending billions and billions of precious dollars to expand politically-driven highways while our critical needs go unmet.”

And The Seattle Times editorialized last week: “Such tendencies are on display in the state Legislature, which is considering an $8.4 billion transportation revenue proposal … just $900 million of the package is dedicated to maintenance… the plan… is too top-heavy with new projects.”

The lesson from the dramatic bridge collapse is simple and undramatic: it’s time to focus on the basics.

We have to fix what we have, and make sure our transportation system is safe for everyone to get around — from long-haul truck drivers to kids riding their bicycles to grandparents walking in their neighborhoods. If you agree, click here to let your legislators know.

New WSDOT Director Lynn Peterson

Today Governor Jay Inslee announced the selected of Lynn Peterson as the new Director of the Washington Department of Transportation.

“We’re thrilled Governor Inslee is signaling a new approach to transportation, one that serves people who are working together to make neighborhoods safer for our children, while also protecting the climate,” said Evan Manvel, Director of Policy, Planning and Government Affairs for Cascade.

Peterson brings a lifetime of experience at all levels of government, including work on transportation choices.

She currently serves as the Sustainability Communities and Transportation Policy Adviser to Oregon Governor John Kitzhaber. She has a long history of work in transportation and land use issues, including stints at 1000 Friends of Oregon, TriMet, Metro (the Portland-area’s regional government), and as Chair of the Clackamas County Commission.

“We need an innovative approach to fixing a transportation network that is outdated and hampering our economic growth,” said Gov. Inslee. “Lynn has the experience, creativity and leadership skills to help Washington build a transportation system for the 21^st century. And we’ll do that in a way that more efficiently moves people and goods and reduces carbon emissions.”

“She’ll bring a fresh perspective to one of Washington’s largest agencies,” said Manvel. “We look forward to partnering with her and WSDOT to invest in communities that are safe for people of all ages and abilities to bicycle in.”

Of interest to Cascade Bicycle Club members: Peterson rides a bike. We hope she will join us at one of our signature events.

On Tuesday, Feb. 12, around a 150 Washington residents traveled to Olympia to advocate for transportation choices. Some traveled as far as 250 miles to tell their representatives and senators to allocate funding for transit, walking and bicycling in their transportation budget.

While state legislators see lobbyists every single day, they really want to hear from you — their constituents and neighbors. Transportation Advocacy Day was our chance to talk directly with our elected state representatives and speak out in support of a balanced transportation budget that promotes bicycling, walking, transit, rail, carpooling and more.

We were there advocating for bicycling. We spent the day learning about the policies and bills up for discussion, meeting with other transportation advocacy groups and talking to our legislators. We were live-tweeting throughout the day, so head over to our Twitter feed if you missed it. (Look for #TAD13)

We talked to various legislators and presented out three ask:

1. Money for bicycling:

The state transportation budget will be about $7 billion. That’s “billion,” with a B. Our ask is that if they’re going to spend billions of dollars on massive new highways, they should invest at least a few million in making it safer to bicycle for the millions of Washingtonians who want to get around by bike.

• $30 million for Safe Routes to School projects across Washington.Our request is that $80 million (that’s less than one percent!) go to three efforts that help make it safer to bike and walk:

• $20 million for Pedestrian and Bicycle Safety grants to local governments.

• $30 million for Complete Streets grants to local governments.

2. Local control over the Neighborhood Safe Speeds bill:

Provide local control over making neighborhoods safer by allowing communities to set speed limits on non-arterial streets without a costly engineering study.

3. Health in transportation goals bill: 

When our state and local governments make transportation plans, they should encourage healthier ways to get around – like bicycling!  We’d like for  health to be considered one of Washington’s transportation goals to help save lives, improve community health and reduce health care costs.

This bill, HB 1233, sponsored by Rep. Laurie Jinkins, is up for a vote on February 14. Please contact your legislators and urge them to support it.

Here are some tidbits of Transportation Advocacy Day 2013 in pictures and quotes:

Members from the 43rd District meet with Rep. Frank Chopp

* “If you have a single message, tell them it’s multimodal.” - Sen. Steve Litzow

* “Multimodal transportation is the backbone of healthy communities and economies and vibrant cities, “ voiced a young 43rd District voter during our meeting with Rep. Frank Chopp.

“You’re preaching to the choir,” responded Chopp, who urged constituents to get support for the transportation package from local voters – so contact your representatives and let them know you want a balanced transportation budget with money for all modes of transportation.

* ”Transportation is my favorite subject, much to people’s surprise,” – Sen. Ed Murray.

* “People are more willing to be taxed when they have jobs,” Sen. Murray.

* Sen. Murray shared with us that he feels strongly about the Safe Speed Bill for personal reasons. When he was 14, he was hit by a car while he was riding his bicycle and spent several months in and out of the hospital.

Senator Ed Murray

* On a lighter note, as we were leaving the conference hall, he shared with us that he was back on the bike (an upright, retro orange bike purchased at Montlake Bike Shop).

“Biking gets me a sense of freedom I don’t get in my life otherwise,“ he said.

*  “The 2005 [transportation] package was radical at the time but ’05 is a long time ago and it’s time to reinvest,” said Murray. “But it is going to take some effort to pull together the state around these issues, especially our friends outside of Seattle.”

* Senator Steve Hobbs stated he supports a proposed $25 fee on the sales of bicycles of $500 or more.

“We are still trying to figure it out, but if you want bike lanes, we have to find ways to fund them,” said Hobbs.

“Cascade is opposing the bike sales fee, and working to have it removed,” responded Evan Manvel, Cascade’s Director of Policy, Planning & Government Affairs. “We’re concerned about impacts on small, family-owned bike shops”

* “We have a governor who really believes in biking.” – Rep. Andy Billig

* “Remember the bill isn’t about healthcare, it’s about health and making our communities healthier before they need healthcare.” – Rep. Billig.

Julie Salathe, Cascade Education Director, and Peter Hallson, Edmonds Bicycle Advisory Group and Cascade Ride Leader