Roger Millar: WSDOT exercising sound financial judgment while elected officials determine how to implement I-976

The Washington State Department of Transportation prides itself on transparency and open engagement, so it’s unfortunate when an op-ed like the Washington Policy Center’s feeds political narratives and smears the hard work of an agency dedicated to serving the residents of this state (“North-South Freeway should get its funding,” Dec. 12).

Gov. Jay Inslee’s direction to the WSDOT on Nov. 6 was clear. He directed my agency to postpone projects not yet underway. To understand why this direction was given, it is important to understand how state budgets work. The passage of the initiative did not change the transportation budget passed by the Legislature and signed by the governor earlier this year. It did, however, significantly affect the revenues that pay for that budget. Legally, WSDOT cannot change our budget or how we spend it. The Legislature and governor make those difficult decisions.

WSDOT worked closely with the governor’s office to determine what this list should include. I can assure you that it was, in fact, deliberative and not motivated by politics. Simply put, projects that added capacity like highway expansion were paused because the work was going out to advertisement within the next six months for contractor bids. Projects were not selected by what county they were in or how they were funded – gas tax or otherwise. The North Spokane Corridor project is funded by the 2015 Connecting Washington revenue package. While the majority of that package is gas tax funded, it includes other various fees like passenger car and light truck weight fee increases. Those fees are affected by the passage of Initiative 976.

Both the governor and WSDOT shared a priority to keep projects already under contract – projects that address preservation, safety and fish passage, as well as those that keep vulnerable populations safe – on track. While those principles may feel subjective, most would agree preservation and safety projects are critical to the safe operation of our multimodal transportation system. Fish passage projects must continue to ensure the state meets legal and tribal obligations. Finally, grant projects that serve special needs and rural populations remain on track and serve our most vulnerable residents – our disabled, our children, our parents and grandparents. Many mobility projects remain under construction and the paused list is just that: a pause to allow the governor and Legislature to make longer-term choices.

While priorities are infinite, money is not and the initiative cuts much-needed transportation funding. The choice to determine what that looks like is hard and rests with those elected by the people of this state. What WSDOT did at the governor’s direction is prevent the agency from continuing to spend money, giving the governor and legislators financial flexibility to make those challenging decisions. Washingtonians have long held the value of government accountability, and WSDOT continues to deliver on being a transparent and fiscally responsible agency. What our agency is doing is sound financial practice that people and businesses do each day: Don’t spend money you might not have in the future.

While I’m empathetic to people’s disappointment in their projects being placed on hold, I imagine they would be even more frustrated and upset with an agency that keeps spending when its financial future is up in the air. While the governor and Legislature work together to implement the initiative, it is WSDOT’s duty – my duty – to maintain and preserve the system we have today, safely and efficiently – and the people of WSDOT will do just that.