Gig Harbor: Study of highway traffic is pointless

Re: “Traffic study of Route 16 in Gig Harbor area starts soon,” (TNT, 6/1).

It is a given that more people will be moving into the Gig Harbor area along State Route 16. No light rail is planned for the next 20 years (thankfully not on the current plan). That leaves us with adding more lanes to the highway. Sorry, bike paths won’t work here. The Washington State Department of Transportation will most likely never be able to afford four lanes each direction, so by default that means the most WSDOT will ever do or can afford is three lanes each direction.

I have just completed a $3 million study for free. Send me $1 million, spend the balance on the new roadway. No more studying or consulting required unless you want to study why a state agency with thousands of employees and billions of dollars needs to hire an outside consultant. WSDOT does build freeways, doesn’t it? The “T” in WSDOT does stand for transportation, doesn’t it?

At a very minimum, stop spending money on studies for projects with no current funding. Instead spend the money supporting the State Patrol to the level that it requires. That by itself will provide safer roadways and a quicker response to traffic-blocking events, making life better for everyone.

This story was originally published June 2, 2016 at 10:59 AM with the headline "Gig Harbor: Study of highway traffic is pointless."