Mr. Chairman and Members of the Subcommittee, I am Paul Miller, a member of the Tacoma City Council and Chair of the Board of the Central Puget Sound Regional Transit Authority of Washington State, more commonly known as Sound Transit. I am accompanied by Dave Earling, a member of the Edmonds City Council and Vice Chair of the Sound Transit Board, and by Bob White, Sound Transit's Executive Director. I am also pleased that Al Jackson of the Boeing Company and Julie Inman of the Microsoft Corporation have joined us today to show the support of their companies for Sound Transit's efforts. We appreciate the opportunity to testify before you today about our progress in addressing the mobility problems of the central Puget Sound region and the assistance we need from the federal "New Starts" program in FY 2000 to advance our efforts. We have testified before you in prior years about our ten-year Sound Move plan which will increase the capacity of our region's transportation system through a mix of light rail, commuter rail, High Occupancy Vehicle Expressways, regional express bus routes and community connections. - Our region is frequently ranked as one of the most congested in the nation. The implementation of our Sound Move plan is critically important to keeping people and goods moving so that our economy which plays a vital role in our nation's economy can remain healthy. Washington State is the most trade-oriented state in the country and western Washington is home to many world-class corporations, including the Boeing Company, Microsoft, Weyerhaeuser, Price-Costco, Nordstrom and Starbucks, just to name a few. Improving our region's mobility helps all of these companies compete in the national I am pleased to report to you today that Sound Transit is moving ahead, on schedule and on budget, to achieve our goals. This month, our Board will select a Locally Preferred Alternative for both our 24mile central Link light rail line and our 2-mile, locally-financed Tacoma Link line. We will issue a Final EIS late this summer on our central Link line and will be ready to negotiate a Full Funding Grant Agreement with FTA on this line later this year. With a projected 125,000 riders per day when it opens and one of the highest local match rates in the - we believe that our central Link line will rank among the most cost-effective "New Starts" in the country. This spring, we will begin station construction on our 40-mile Seattle-to-Tacoma Sounder commuter rail line and we will initiate service on this line in December. We will have a draft EIS ready for our Seattle-Everett line next month and environmental work is also underway on the Tacoma-Lakewood extension. Our Regional Express project will be addressed in the joint testimony, but suffice it to say here that we have already begun Regional Express bus service on two lines. We will add 8 more routes this September and, when fully implemented, will operate 17 express bus routes. The high demand for these services is evidenced by the 30 % ridership increase on the Seattle-Tacoma Express route in just the last year. For FY 2000, we are seeking $74 million for our Sounder commuter rail project and $69 million for our Link light rail project from Section 5309 "New Starts" funds, in addition to our portion of the coordinated regional request for funding from the "Bus and Bus Facilities" program. The light rail funding we request will be used for the capital costs associated with completing preliminary engineering and beginning final design on our central Link line. The commuter rail funds will be used to help fund the 38 passenger rail cars and 6 locomotives we are procuring for the service we will initiate in December. We appreciate the support this subcommittee has given us in the past. We believe you have made a wise investment. We were pleased that John Blazey and Stephanie Gupta of your staff were able to be in Seattle last year and learn more about our work. We hope you can continue to give us the assistance we need to implement our plans as promptly and efficiently as possible. We appreciate your consideration of this request and we look forward to continuing our work together for many years to come. Mr. INSLEE. Mr. Chair and Ranking Member Sabo, thank you. It is very good to be back before your committee. And I would just like to make two brief points about this project. Point number one. The people of Puget Sound, by their own decision and own vote, have decided to take on the bulk of the responsibility financially for this project. And to my knowledge, this project with the folks in Puget Sound have bellied up to the bar and taken responsibility for 80 percent of this project. To my knowledge, that is the greatest portion of responsibility of any local community in this country that you are considering. So when a community, it seems to me if this committee wants to reward those who want to take responsibility for their own projects, I think this project is designed for this committee, because the people of Puget Sound have not just come to the Federal Government, they have come to the bar themselves and have been responsible. Second point. I think the time is coming when we are going to have make sure we coordinate transportation policy with land use policy. And one thing I will tell you about Puget Sound, this is an area in the country that is as progressive as any part of the Nation in coordinating its land use policy with its transportation policy. They have really adopted a concept of smart growth in the Puget Sound area. And if we want to reward that concept of doing land use policy with transportation, I think this project is built for this committee. For those two reasons, Puget Sound has taken responsibility and we have a livable community system up and running, I would ask you to fully fund the $143 million in New Starts as well as the transit projects. Now I would like to introduce Dave Earling, Edmond City Council, who will discuss the coordinated bus request for King, Snohomish, and Pierce Counties. [The prepared statement of the Hon. Jay Inslee follows:] |