Ah, Memorial Day! Summer’s (un)official kickoff—flags fluttering; Fortunate Son blaring; corndogs frying; ferries . . . stalling? We hope all of our readers had an excellent holiday last weekend, but we expect that some had the misfortune of requiring the transit services of Washington’s decrepit ferry system. If SeaTac’s recent interminable lines have not convinced you, we hope that some of the regional travel news from last weekend does—the Evergreen’s infrastructure is in dire straits, and Governor Inslee, as always, is (at best) half-asleep at the switch.
I know, I know. I have complained about all of this before. Kvetched, some might say. But with an open gubernatorial election soon upon us—the first since I was in college (for context, I have been a licensed attorney for nearly seven years)—it behooves us all to take a deep breath and view the state of our state with staunch clarity. No matter who you plan to vote for, up and down the ballot, please keep in your mind’s eye some of the chaos that transpired this past holiday weekend, and will no doubt continue into what otherwise promises to be a halcyon summer.
First, as hinted, there is our state’s dilapidated ferry system. Inaugurated in 1951, and designed for a state in singular need of a passenger-ready flotilla, since then things have, to mix metaphors, gone off the rails. This year’s Memorial Day weekend simply made this clearer than its ever been before. Just days before its start, the Seattle Times reported that “[f]our of the fleet’s 21 vessels are out for repair, one is being converted to hybrid-electric power”—presumably by the 2040s—“and one is on standby to fill in if necessary.” It turned out to be very necessary. “On Saturday,” KIRO reported, “ferry officials put the Samish” route “out of service” and “also canceled four crossings between Port Townsend and Coupeville on Sunday.” Small potatoes, perhaps; at least in the grand scheme. Call me when the Seattle-Bainbridge ferry flounders, amiright? But wait, there’s more! As Fox 14 reports, Washington State Ferries (“WSF”) predicts a successful summer for its routes, despite the fact that “we’ve got a 21-vessel fleet right now”—again, only 15 of which are currently operative—but “to really run what we were doing pre-pandemic we need 26.” I am sure things are going to go swimmingly—for the passengers’ sake hopefully not literally.
Of course, the misery—both recent and impending—is not limited to ferry-goers. Back to SeaTac for a moment. This year’s holiday rush began inauspiciously, as some municipal planner thought it a good idea to schedule last weekend for a multilane delay on 99’s southbound approach to the airport. Once arriving at the airport, passengers waited on lines lasting as long as ten hours—according to around a dozen travelers I spoke with. I myself waited in a line of cars for a solid hour waiting to pick up my wife on Sunday. I know! This is all anecdotal, but conveniently the newsmedia warned of delays without doing much post-holiday follow-up. For years now there has been talk of (finally) building a second airport for Metro Seattle, for which there is a dire need. They remain whispers, however; as uncertain a prospect as the Sonics’ prodigal (and thus-far mythical) return.
Onto our vaunted roadways, where “bumper-to-bumper” approximates last weekend’s general motif. Of course Inslee is not responsible for heavy travel days, but his policies redirecting transportation-department resources to “climate-conscious” pet projects—few of which have registered much success—certainly did not help the situation. The start of this year’s legislative session put things into stark relief. “Before the legislative session had even started,” the Urbanist (no friend of small government) decried the “considerable” “number of projects seeing cost overruns.” Over $200 million “on top of what had been previously allocated” to widen I-405. More than double that “to keep [State Route] 520” in Seattle “on track.” And news that barriers to protect salmon preserves from traffic requiring “another 3.5 to four billion dollars to meet its deadline by the end of the decade.”
For those who fear I’ve ventured into “rant” territory, I assure you I am not Dennis Miller 2.0. I am simply a recent transplant to the Evergreen—from notoriously dysfunctional New Jersey—who knows an infrastructural debacle when he sees one. For those who stayed close to home on Memorial Day, I am fairly jealous. But please know your (likely relatively) tranquil experience is not the norm. As we enter the final year of Inslee’s seemingly endless administration, it is worth taking stock of how desensitized we have become to waiting on lines and in lanes, simply for the chance to return home after a long day of work, or to visit family on the other side of the state. At the risk of patently annoying my readership, I fear this is not the last time this summer that I take Washington officials to task for the state of our roads, ferries, and airports. As I do, though, I promise not to repeat myself. Though this is low-risk: There are enough transit debacles in the Evergreen to plaster headlines for months on end. But I will try to be prudent.
Alki,
Sam Spiegelman