Focusing on transportation issues both north and south of Interstate 90 — from Eastgate to North Bend — Issaquah Mayor Fred Butler recently hosted state, county, city and agency leaders for a Regional Transportation Summit.
In total, 20 local and regional leaders participated, with more than 100 people watching as audience members.
"Such an impressive turnout sends a clear message: Finding regional solutions to our transportation issues is a No. 1 issue for many cities," Butler said. "I look forward to harnessing that excitement into actionable next steps."
Along with King County Executive Dow Constantine, the following mayors participated during the event on Nov. 22: Bellevue, Covington, Maple Valley, Mercer Island, Newcastle, North Bend, Renton, Sammamish and Snoqualmie.
Representatives from regional agencies also contributed to the dialogue, including state legislators; Washington State Department of Transportation (WSDOT); King County councilmembers; King County Metro; Sound Transit; Puget Sound Regional Council (PSRC), Issaquah School District and Sound Cities Association.
Several common priorities emerged during the summit, including:
- Further studying new revenue ideas.
- Building coalitions around common interests.
- Implementing process improvements and streamlining efforts.
- Speeding up timelines for key projects.
- Using data to identify priorities and make collective decisions.
- Better sequencing local and regional projects to reduce traffic impacts.
Next steps include:
- Bringing technical staff together from each city in King County in early 2017 to identify issues and potential solutions.
- Identify smaller coalitions of agencies to work on certain corridors (Issaquah-Hobart Road is an example).
The summit is now available to watch via YouTube. Written comments submitted from audience members are also available online.