LAST week, Gov. Jay Inslee signed a $16.2 billion transportation-investment package that had been hammered out over two years of grueling negotiations with lawmakers. It is a very good, well-balanced deal for Washington state. It includes funding to finish the Highway 520 bridge and other megaprojects, and provides transit grants. It is well worth the 11.9-cent-per-gallon gas-tax increase.
Within days, however, Inslee began floating political trial balloons for a move that could potentially undermine this deal and wipe away more than $1.1 billion in funding for non-highway, transit and biking projects, according to the Puget Sound Regional Council.