At year’s end, The News Tribune’s editorial board traditionally looks back at the year that was.

We see how things went for the annual civic agenda we published in January, outlining the board’s top priorities for improving lives and communities in the South Sound.

Invest in transportation infrastructure

The greatest challenge facing the growing Puget Sound region is building and repairing transportation infrastructure to keep people and freight moving smoothly.

But the region’s voters in November soundly rejected Proposition 1, a massive and costly roads-and-transit ballot package that, among other things, would have extended Sound Transit’s light-rail system all the way to Tacoma.

Now state lawmakers must devise new approaches, including more emphasis on using highway tolls to pay for road repairs and construction.

On the plus side, the new Narrows Bridge opened July 15, on time and under budget. More than 50,000 pedestrians packed the span from end to end for hours. Afterward, commuters marveled at the improved traffic flow. Complaints about the bridge toll dwindled.

But an important transportation link in downtown Tacoma was severed when state officials closed the historic Murray Morgan Bridge, citing severe deterioration. The bridge’s future is uncertain.

Promote early learning

Research shows that no period in a child’s development is as critical as the first few years of life, long before kindergarten begins. Accordingly, Gov. Chris Gregoire and the Legislature last year created a new Department of Early Learning and launched pilot early-learning projects.

A variety of community projects have been funded, but the early-learning effort is still largely in a formative stage.

United Way of Pierce County launched an ambitious effort to establish a countywide “early-learning system” coordinating the work of care providers, schools, nonprofit agencies and other groups that work with very young children. Next year will tell whether United Way obtains significant grant funding to move forward. Provide college and vocational opportunity

On this count, it was a very good year. The University of Washington Tacoma continued to grow, adding 480 enrollment slots and winning funding for design work on expansion and renovation of its historic Joy Building.

Both Tacoma Community College and Pierce College opened much-needed new campus facilities.

A UWT capital fund-raising campaign was hugely successful, surging past an early $20 million goal and topping $35 million. The TCC Foundation did well, too, beating goal and raising $9.7 million to fund scholarships and other needs.

Both the University of Washington and Washington State University unveiled new scholarship programs – the Husky Promise and the Cougar Commitment – guaranteeing tuition for all low-income students who are admitted. Keep government transparent

Legislators finally approved a long-stalled reporter shield law that protects the ability of journalists to obtain information from government informants.

At the behest of state Attorney General Rob McKenna, they also created a Sunshine Committee to review the burgeoning number of exemptions from public disclosure requirements granted to state agencies. It is too soon to tell, however, whether the committee will assertively target unnecessary or ill-advised exemptions.

Although there was a setback or two, court cases last year generally favored public disclosure. The City of Spokane had to pay hefty settlements for illegally witholding public records. The state Department of Corrections was fined $540,000 for withholding public records from a newspaper run by an inmate.

At long last, Tacoma port commissioners grudgingly joined their counterparts in Seattle and Olympia in webstreaming and televising their public meetings. Welcome to the digital age, commissioners!

Preserve accountability in public education

Although the Legislature had to postpone the math portion of the WASL that was to become a high school graduation requirement in 2008, the setback was a blessing in disguise.

A high failure rate among students taking the math WASL revealed big problems with the state’s math standards. New standards are in the works.

By and large, legislators resisted pressures to do away with or weaken WASL requirements, which are designed to make sure Washington’s students are learning what they need to succeed in today’s demanding workplace.

It took a while, but the Tacoma School Board finally held new Superintendent Charlie Milligan – and itself – accountable for his disastrous management style. Although Milligan left with a whopping settlement, his departure immediately lifted the district’s morale and prospects.

Foster citizenship

By citizenship, we mean more than voting. It includes giving time and money to help others and improve communities. Examples abounded in 2007.

For example, neighbors in South Tacoma organized and won designation of an Alcohol Impact Area to fight public drunkenness. Residents on Tacoma’s East Side mobilized to fight gangs. Civic-minded volunteers formed a new nonprofit to organize and fund a second Tall Ships Festival next summer. There were many other laudable efforts, more than we can list here.

Preserve livable communities and the environment

Here, too, it was a good year. The Legislature doubled, to $100 million, a fund to preserve land for recreation and wildlife. Lawmakers also established and funded a Puget Sound Partnership to spearhead efforts to clean up polluted parts of the sound.

Pierce County government acted to preserve rapidly disappearing farmland, including establishment of an innovative transfer-of-development-rights program that could become a model for the state. The county also initiated a complicated land swap that will create a large new regional park on the Bonney Lake plateau.

Best of all, the county opened its spectacular, championship-quality Chambers Bay Golf Course on an old gravel pit site overlooking Puget Sound. Critics sniped, but the course is unquestionably a hit with both golfers and users of the 3-plus miles of recreational trail around and through the course. So far, the course is paying its way.

COMING JAN. 13: The News Tribune’s updated civic agenda for 2008.