Today, the Washington State Transportation Commission and WSDOT face tasks and challenges both new and old.  J. M. Snow, the state’s first Highway Commissioner, would likely recognize the perennial problem of too little money for too many needs, but he might be dazed by the complex job of creating and maintaining an effective transportation system in a rapidly developing global economy amid a time of unprecedented technological and social change.

In updating its 20-year plan, the Transportation Commission has identified a series of key issues for
innovation, investment, and improvement -

• Meeting the transportation needs of the 2 million additional citizens expected to live in Washington by 2030, particularly in already congested urban areas.
 
• Funding repair and upgrades of aging State highways, bridges, ferry docks, and other facilities, most of which were built before 1980, and replacing dangerous structures such as Seattle’s Alaskan Way Viaduct.
 
• Developing new services and programs to help an expanding population of elderly and disabled citizens achieve and retain their independent mobility.
 
• Making the protection of the environment and public health an integral element of transportation design, so new facilities not only do no harm, but materially benefit nature and individual well-being.
 
• Accelerating the movement of freight to better serve Washington’s ports, industries, and agricultural exporters so our state can compete in the international marketplace and create new jobs and opportunities.
 
• Exploring new technologies and techniques such as commuter information systems to make existing and new highways as efficient as possible.
 
• Seeking new public-private partnerships to generate capital investment and new financial arrangements such as “congestion pricing” to generate funds in a fair and equitable manner from highway users.
 
• Supporting public transit, car- and vanpooling, and other programs that expand the capacity of highways and ferries to move people, especially in more crowded communities and corridors.
 
• Helping counties and cities keep up with their transportation needs — because every trip on the state transportation system begins and ends locally.

In partnership with other governments, public agencies, the private sector, and, foremost, the people of our state, the Washington State Transportation Commission and Washington State Department of Transportation are working to keep Washington moving in the twenty-first century.