FedEx touts itself as the best solution "when it absolutely, positively has to be there overnight."

When FedEx first made that promise in 1971, many in the logistics field scoffed. Today, however, it is an expected guarantee of service and especially true if your delivery location is within six miles of a FedEx distribution center.

Except in Pierce County, where an uncompleted State Route 167 puts an enormous kink in the local supply chain.

Gary Kemmer of STAC Industries reports that although his business is located in Sumner—just six miles away from the FedEx distribution center in Fife—the global packaging company will not guarantee overnight delivery by 9:30 a.m. to his facility because of the poor transportation connections. Kemmer has to send his own people to FedEx to pick up his priority packages, taking them away from their core responsibilities at STAC.

This is not a knock on FedEx. Rather, it's a knock on the state which, because of its failure to complete this corridor of statewide significance, is making it difficult for two reputable companies to do business with one another.

It is time for state lawmakers to deliver on their promise to finish SR 167 so that business can deliver on theirs.