State to be 49th in road spending
Transportation chief paints grim picture after failure of R-51
Washington state will fall to 49th out of 50 states in 2004 in capital spending for highways, Transportation Secretary Doug MacDonald said yesterday.
"We are the Mississippi of roads," he said in a statement released after his presentation to the state Transportation Commission following the failure of Referendum 51, the state gasoline tax measure.
In 1995, the state ranked 20th in capital spending for highways on a per person basis. Nationally, half the states spent more than $158 per person per year on highway capital projects, compared with $119 in Washington. By 2004, assuming current revenue sources, that would go to $80 per person, MacDonald told the commission...more [Seattle P-I]
I live in a very mixed up state. We have gone from Most Livable to Most Screwed-up in a matter of a decade. During that period we have managed to worsen our states already messed up funding situation. We have crippled the ability of lawmakers to lead, and we have been deluded into thinking that government can operate with no funding.
Our state ranks in the bottom half of states in quality of education. We have the highest or second highest unemployment in the nation - Alaska beats us out some months. We have one of the worst infrastructures/roads in the nation. Our gridlock is ranked in the top 3 in the nation. We are in the process of losing one of our largest employers as Boeing moves more and more work out of state. This comes after moving it's headquarters to Chicago. They fled largely because they got sick and tired of dealing with the mess that is this state.
We have allowed a liar and con artist named Tim Eyman to drive and dictate state fiscal policy. A week willed Gary Locke has failed to lead as governor of the state of Washington. You may not live here, but take it as a cautionary tale of how weak leadership and and voters bent on tax cuts, can lead your state down the path to mediocrity...mj
1:22:30 PM 
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