SEATTLE NEWS ARCHIVES & FEATURES

Dori: House bill would try to engineer more gridlock

Feb 5, 2020, 7:50 AM

gridlock...

(File photo)

(File photo)

The motives of the Democrats, who have one-party control of our state, are truly evil.

House Bill 2688 would remove “congestion relief” and “improved freight mobility” from the goals of the Washington State Department of Transportation.

If that sounds a little wonky, let me explain. Right now, WSDOT sets a lot of goals for itself. One of these goals is congestion relief. No one likes to sit in traffic, right? The Democrats in charge now want to remove that as a goal. In other words, they want to engineer more gridlock in our state.

Right now, you might sit in your car for an hour trying to get from Marysville to downtown Seattle for work, or trying to get from Pierce County to King. You know it would take you twice as long with public transit, and you don’t have time for that — you have kids you need to pick up, basketball you need to coach. After all, there is nothing more precious in our lives than our time.

Dori: Jenny Durkan wants to punish families with congestion pricing

Now the Democrats in control in Olympia want to engineer even more gridlock in our state. What this bill would do is eliminate any road-building that could perhaps help offset some of the congestion. As for the freight mobility portion — all of these wonderful truckers who work an honest day for their paycheck will now have a tougher time getting around our roads.

Why would the Legislature do this? They believe they know how to run your life better than you do, and they consider driving in a single-occupancy vehicle to be evil. If you live in the suburbs or rural areas and need a car to get to work, what you have to do to make a living is evil in the minds of the Democrats in control. So they want to make it even harder for you.

But really, taking away your time, and the time of the hundreds of thousands of commuters losing hours from their lives, is what is evil. To punish you for driving a car, they will take away the time you spend with your children or volunteering for your community. How could you have a bill in the legislature today — when traffic is at the top of almost everyone’s list of top issues in this state — that actively tries to make gridlock worse?

If we don’t get a revolution in this one-party state, if we don’t get some semblance of balance this next election, you’ll see the most precious thing you have get stolen from you. Yes, your money is important, too. But nothing can replace your time.

Listen to the Dori Monson Show weekday afternoons from 12-3 p.m. on KIRO Radio, 97.3 FM. Subscribe to the podcast here.

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Dori: House bill would try to engineer more gridlock