Kudos to the News Tribunefor a great opinion piece this weekend calling on the state Legislature to complete State Route 167.

"The lingering debate is whether the $1.5 billion project should be tackled without enough money or as a single-lane 'highway.' We hope the Legislature will recognize the futility – and the financial waste – of such half-measures," declared the paper. "That six-mile gap is the graveyard of hundreds of millions of dollars worth of jobs and opportunity. Phasing is the reason the gap exists."

The News Tribunegoes onto note the important jobs generating implications of the highway. "That missing six miles of SR 167 is threatening jobs far beyond the port itself. Farmers in Eastern Washington need a reliable corridor to Tacoma for their exports. The warehouses and stores of the Kent Valley need predictable, just-in-time deliveries of the goods they sell. Pierce County’s Frederickson-based aerospace companies need a guaranteed route to aircraft manufacturers."

Check out the full piece in Sunday's paper.