The executive board of the Regional Transportation Investment District (RTID) approved the joint RTID/Sound Transit package on May 31 sans the dreaded Cross Base Highway, a proposed new four-lane, $477 million highway in Pierce County that would have cut through Fort Lewis and the McChord Air Force Baseâand destroyed the last remaining oak-woodland prairie in Western Washington. In order to put the measure on the ballot in the three counties encompassed by the RTID boundary, the package has to be approved by all three county councils. Pierce County Executive John Ladenburg, a Cross Base supporter, has vowed to veto the entire proposal if it doesn't include the highway; Cross Base supporters and opponents each claim they have the votes to override the executive's veto. If opponents are wrong and the county council fails to overturn a veto by Ladenburg, the ballot measure could still move forward, but without Pierce County.
The lengthy meeting was a mix of praise (from environmentalists), criticism (from Pierce County officials and commuters), and mutual back-patting (from the board). "The package you're looking at today is something we think we can advocate for," said Rob Johnson, regional policy director for the Transportation Choices Coalition. "The environmental community is willing and excited to get this package on the ballot this fall." However, Mary Ann Lincoln of the Spanaway Community Association, who lives in Spanaway and works in Redmond, insisted that Pierce County residents need the Cross Base Highway to commute. "I have spent five hours a day in my car. I have arrived at work angry and frustrated," Lincoln said. She added that the number of drivers the new highway would serve "is probably a lot more people than the environmental community has in their organizations."
The joint ballot measure includes $1.2 billion to widen I-405 on the Eastside; $870 million to connect SR-509 to I-5; $1.1 billion to replace the aging SR-520 bridge across Lake Washington; and hundreds of millions in sprawl-feeding highway-widening projects, billed in the RTID plan as "congestion relief." Environmental groups are tentatively supporting RTID, despite its flaws, because it's linked to a $23 billion funding proposal for Sound Transit; they also suspect that most of the new highway lanes will be tolled, a well-known disincentive for driving.
The proposal now goes to the RTID Planning Committee for final adoption on June 8. From there, it goes to the Snohomish, Pierce, and King County Councils for placement on the November ballot. 
