Two prominent leaders in the Olympia transportation funding debate weighed in today on the importance of completing SR-167.

Curtis King, co-chair of the Senate Transportation Committee, spoke this morning to the Washington Highway Users Federation. Addressing over thirty industry leaders, Senator King noted, "Given the downturn in the economy, the focus has got to be on those transportation investments that provide the biggest economic bang for the buck. And I will show my bias-- if we don't complete SR-167 and SR-509, our ports will be less competitive. This is one of the things we have got to figure out first."

Rep. Judy Clibborn, chair of the House Transportation Committee, echoed these sentiments later in the day. She outlined her proposed revenue package when she met with members of the Association of Washington Business Transportation Committee. "The only new project in my proposal is the joining of SR-167 and SR-509, which I am calling the Puget Sound Freight Corridor. It has a lot of political support and brings a huge amount of bipartisan votes in the legislature. Plus, I can sell it to the rest of the state because of the fact that every district in the state has at least one business that exports something through the ports."