Who gets it?

Pierce County's legislators certainly do. Nearly everyone continuously cites the completion of SR-167 as the top transportation priority for the state.

But support for the project is much broader than that. Lawmakers from as far away as Snohomish County and Yakima get it too. Speaking last week at the Washington Highway Users Federation (WHUF) annual Transportation Briefing, Senator Curtis King-- ranking member on the Senate Transportation Committee-- called out the importance of the project. Noting the limited funds available to the state, he argued Washington needed to prioritize "those projects with the biggest economic impact. That would begin with SR-509 and SR-167. If we don't protect our ports and keep them viable and competitive then we are kidding ourselves. Cargo has to be able to get into those ports quickly and it has to be able to get out of the ports quickly, too."

Representative Marko Lias, vice-chair of the House Transportation Committee, echoed those sentiments: "We need to focus not just on the highway system, but also freight mobility and transit...I think Connecting Washington provided us with a good blueprint for the corridors we need to focus on including SR-509, SR-167 and I would also add Columbia River Crossing..."

This same theme was taken up by Governor Chris Gregoire on Monday at the Washington Council on International Trade Washington Trade Conference when she declared, "The backbone of international trade in Washington is transportation...We need more investment in economic corridors if we want the jobs and economy we want our citizen's to have...We have got to finish Route 167 in Pierce County."