Olympia deserves a better infrastructure plan

The Olympia Planning Commission recently presented its “Preliminary Capital Facilities Plan” covering the years 2017-2022. I was in attendance to draw attention to the plan’s shameful lack of investment in bicycle facilities.

To be fair, the city has in recent years undertaken several significant bike-oriented projects. But Olympia’s steady, plodding pace of well-considered projects is wholly inadequate to the challenge of making our city an inviting place to use a bicycle to get to work, go to school, go shopping, or head downtown. If you need convincing, try riding on Pacific Avenue west from the border with Lacey or across West Olympia on Harrison Avenue. Then consider that, of the $56 million in transportation spending envisioned for the period 2017-2022, only 0.4 percent is earmarked for bicycle projects!

Consider also Olympia’s commitment to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions by 80 percent by 2050. Converting those goals to a useful metric, tons of carbon dioxide equivalent per person per year, is a sobering exercise. Taking into account population growth, we will need to transform Olympia so that each resident has a “carbon footprint” of about 1 ton of carbon dioxide equivalent per year, compared to our current per capita emissions of about 11 tons per year.

The infrastructure we build over the next six years will still be in use in 2050, when our 2050 selves will need a transportation system that fits within a one-ton-per-year CO2 budget. Let’s hope the city council will revise the Capital Facilities Plan accordingly.

This story was originally published August 19, 2016 at 11:38 AM with the headline "Olympia deserves a better infrastructure plan."