In Washington, the transportation policy doesn’t even have reducing congestion as a priority. Instead, congestion is a tool to get people out of their cars and on to our trains.
Michael Ennis at the Washington Policy Center points out the differences in priorities between Texas and Washington with regards to transportation. In Texas, the freedom of mobility is an important part of the economic plan. Texans understand that the freedom to move around helps the economy, and so their transportation plan focuses on expanding the freedom of the people to move around. (link)
The Republican Part of Washington State should focus on this critical issue. Our congestion in the Puget Sound area is simply inexcusable. We can and should build a system that can help people move around freely.
January 31, 2009 at 12:14 pm |
Jonathan -
I concur with your assessment of the stark contrast in the underlying philosophies governing the transportation planning in Texas and Washington.
I believe that the agenda of policy makers in Washington ( and their sycophants in the media,) to get the “unwashed masses” out of their private vehicles and into public transportation, is only a means to accomplish a much more frightening purpose: get the unlettered, boorish public to agree to significantly reduce the freedom to move around without the permission of those much more capable of determining the necessity of that travel.