Calvin Coolidge once observed there was never a problem so large that, if you ignored it long enough, it wouldn’t go away on its own.

Sadly, it sometimes feels like some in the Legislature believe this is true of transportation.

If you ignore it long enough, transportation advocates would disappear. Somehow the roads will fix themselves. And yet, despite this wishing and dreaming by some politicians, the subject just keeps coming up.

Just read this Sunday’s newspapers to see what we mean.

In the Seattle Times, John Talton noted that while Seattle, Everett and Bellevue are experiencing a “frenetic boom,” Pierce County’s economic growth remains “slow and steady.” Transportation investment is part of the solution for improving this economic recovery.

“A major issue for economic-development officials is the state’s continued failure to fund completion of SR 167 between the port [of Tacoma] and Interstate 5,” Talton writes. “Despite all this, Tacoma and Pierce County are essential elements of the Puget Sound economy. And the significant improvements there are good for the entire region.”

Transportation investments are urgent not just for the maritime trade, but aerospace as well, a point Bill Virgin makes in the News Tribune. In a piece examining “the good, the bad and the ugly for aerospace” after the Farnborough Air Show, Virgin argues, “…the time to start work on projects to unsnarl some of the local tangles, such as State Route 167 from Puyallup to the port, was a few years ago.”

Then there is the News Tribune editorial page which reminds us of this simple truth: roads won’t fix themselves on their own. Lawmakers need to “come out and say it: good roads need taxes.” Much of the blame, they write, comes from “lawmakers who understand the need but don’t dare to educate their anti-tax constituents. Leadership at times requires bucking public opinion and challenging one’s own supporters.”

So despite the best effort of some politicians, the lesson from this weekend is: The roads won’t fix themselves, and the hundreds of businesses, environmentalists, tribal members and workers who are looking for leadership aren’t going away anytime soon either.