Meet Austin Cope, The News Tribune’s new transportation reporter

Hey, Pierce County! My name is Austin Cope, and I’ve just joined The News Tribune to cover transportation. In this job, I’ll write about everything from potholes to multibillion-dollar construction projects throughout Tacoma, Pierce County and the surrounding areas.

I’ve arrived in Tacoma from New York City, where I covered corporate crime at a legal publication focusing on bribery, corruption and other financial wrongdoing. Before that, I wrote for print and audio outlets, including NPR, the Washington Post, NBC and 99% Invisible. I started my professional journalism career at the local public radio station in my hometown of Cortez, Colorado, and also wrote for student publications at Oberlin College and the City University of New York.

Though this is my first time living in Tacoma, I have early memories of Pierce County as a kid when my parents worked at Mount Rainier National Park in the 1990s. I remember driving between Ashford, Eatonville and Puyallup to go to the library or the pool, and I was always fascinated by the different kinds of road construction equipment. The traffic wasn’t nearly as heavy then as it is now, but of course, I wasn’t the one driving!

When I’ve told people I’ll be covering transportation, some ask if it will be boring. I completely disagree. Whether it’s getting to work or school, buying groceries, visiting family or going on vacation, we all want to get there as smoothly (and, usually, as quickly) as possible. When delays happen, we want to know what’s going on, and if they keep happening, we want to know what the root causes are. Sometimes that’s obvious, but other times they happen for reasons we’ve never thought of.

Transportation also costs lots of money. Individuals like us pay for gas, tolls, transit fares and parking, while local, state and national governments spend billions of dollars of taxpayer money on transportation projects. The agencies, businesses and officials involved in those projects are in charge of deciding how to spend it in the most efficient and productive ways possible, so knowing where that money goes is essential.

This is what I look forward to covering at The News Tribune: information to get you where you need to go as smoothly and as cheaply as possible, both on a daily basis and in the longer term.

You can send me tips or story ideas at austin.cope@thenewstribune.com and follow me on Instagram at austincancope. I’m looking forward to an exciting ride!