Resolution 5152 - Laserfiche WebLink

/11 RESOLUTION NO. 5152 Err A RESOLUTION OF THE EVERETT CITY COUNCIL concerning the need for statewide and regional transportation funding packages that will help address congestion and gridlock in Everett, Snohomish County, the Puget Sound, and the State of Washington. WHEREAS, the City of Everett relies heavily on a transportation system of federal and state highways and key corridors; and WHEREAS, the City's transportation system has become increasingly congested in recent years due to rapid population and employment growth and insufficient state investment in transportation infrastructure; and WHEREAS, this growing congestion on Interstate 5 through Everett, and on other corridors, has made Everett a daily fixture on the morning and evening traffic reports, while lengthening commutes for area residents and employees and delaying critical freight movements through the City; and WHEREAS, in order to address the traffic and congestion, a significant increase in capital investment by the State Legislature is clearly necessary; and WHEREAS, the state has not increased the gas tax in more than a decade, while other funding sources such as the Motor Vehicle Excise Tax have been sharply reduced by recent voter-passed initiatives; and WHEREAS, a state Blue Ribbon Commission on Transportation identified between $50 billion and $150 billion in unfunded transportation needs in the State of Washington that cannot be addressed absent new transportation revenues; and WHEREAS, a microcosm of this unfunded need can be seen in Everett, where the City's Six-Year Transportation Improvement Plan (TIP) includes more than $300 million worth of state, regional, and local transportation and transit projects - and only enough available dollars to finance a fraction of them; and WHEREAS, Everett and other local governments, together with the Snohomish County Committee for Improved Transportation (SCCIT), other business organizations, labor groups, environmental groups, and other interested citizens, have banded together to urge the 2002 Legislature to take bold action to tackle the transportation crisis in Puget Sound and across the state; and