Thursday, September 30, 2010
Camp Murray, the Twist
I was trying to decide what to pen about the letter that Camp Murray blasted out to the world, when in steps Deputy Mayor Don Anderson with a letter that pretty much says it all. Anything I added would just be more provocative :) Here's Don's letter if you've not already seen it. If you are not familiar with the issue, you'd want to get up to speed either at The News Tribune site and the Suburban Times site above.
Here's Don's letter. I italicized the one paragraph I hope you read if you don't have time for the whole letter:
Dear MG Lowenberg:
I am writing in response to your letter to the City Manager and Lakewood City Council of September 28, 2010. I can only speak as one member of the Lakewood City Council and not for Lakewood City Government as a whole, but I would be happy to meet with you at any time to discuss Camp Murray’s continuing traffic congestion issues.
However, I must say that I am disturbed by both the content and tone of your letter of September 28, 2010. It makes no reference to the well-recognized cause of Camp Murray’s traffic problems or to the logical solution to those problems. It also fails to recognize the City of Lakewood’s good faith attempt to work toward short-term mitigation of the issues or to the City’s very workable alternative proposal to allow for the construction of a new gate for Camp Murray. This was in spite of the fact that Camp Murray’s Environmental Assessment of the project was untimely and grossly deficient.
As you are well aware, recent traffic studies conducted as a result of the City of Lakewood’s procurement of a grant from the Defense Department’s Office of Economic Adjustment confirmed what has been patently obvious to all who travel I-5 in the area of Camp Murray. The Tillicum interchanges have failed. The reduction of lanes on I-5 between Tillicum and Nisqually needs to be corrected by the construction of additional lanes. Those are the root causes of your and our traffic problems.
To paraphrase the late Senator Daniel Moynihan, any solution short of additional lanes and new interchanges would merely be putting lipstick on a pig.
The responsibility for this infrastructure failure rests squarely on the shoulders of your boss, the Governor, and your fellow state agency, the Washington State Department of Transportation. While the WADOT focuses on “trip reduction,” “non-motorized transportation,” trains and King County infrastructure, the badly needed and long-ignored improvements to I-5 between Lakewood and Nisqually have not been prioritized or slated for funding.
Joint Base Lewis McChord is the largest employer and the leading economic driver in the South Puget Sound Region. Transportation infrastructure for this lynchpin of the State’s economy should be the top priority of the Department of Transportation. Sadly, it is not even close.
You asked what the City of Lakewood is going to do to correct your problems. The solution lies in your chain of command, not ours. We can continue to work to obtain funding for the implementation of a permanent solution to the I-5 corridor traffic problems which plague Lakewood, its Tillicum neighborhood and Camp Murray. These will never be solved by relocation of a gate or rerouting traffic to failed I-5 interchanges.
We hope to have you as a partner in this endeavor. I believe that as the head of a state agency, you are in a unique position to influence both the Governor and the Department of Transportation to recognize, prioritize and fund the needed I-5 infrastructure improvements.
Very truly yours,
Donald L. Anderson, Deputy Mayor
City of Lakewood
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Here's Don's letter. I italicized the one paragraph I hope you read if you don't have time for the whole letter:
Dear MG Lowenberg:
I am writing in response to your letter to the City Manager and Lakewood City Council of September 28, 2010. I can only speak as one member of the Lakewood City Council and not for Lakewood City Government as a whole, but I would be happy to meet with you at any time to discuss Camp Murray’s continuing traffic congestion issues.
However, I must say that I am disturbed by both the content and tone of your letter of September 28, 2010. It makes no reference to the well-recognized cause of Camp Murray’s traffic problems or to the logical solution to those problems. It also fails to recognize the City of Lakewood’s good faith attempt to work toward short-term mitigation of the issues or to the City’s very workable alternative proposal to allow for the construction of a new gate for Camp Murray. This was in spite of the fact that Camp Murray’s Environmental Assessment of the project was untimely and grossly deficient.
As you are well aware, recent traffic studies conducted as a result of the City of Lakewood’s procurement of a grant from the Defense Department’s Office of Economic Adjustment confirmed what has been patently obvious to all who travel I-5 in the area of Camp Murray. The Tillicum interchanges have failed. The reduction of lanes on I-5 between Tillicum and Nisqually needs to be corrected by the construction of additional lanes. Those are the root causes of your and our traffic problems.
To paraphrase the late Senator Daniel Moynihan, any solution short of additional lanes and new interchanges would merely be putting lipstick on a pig.
The responsibility for this infrastructure failure rests squarely on the shoulders of your boss, the Governor, and your fellow state agency, the Washington State Department of Transportation. While the WADOT focuses on “trip reduction,” “non-motorized transportation,” trains and King County infrastructure, the badly needed and long-ignored improvements to I-5 between Lakewood and Nisqually have not been prioritized or slated for funding.
Joint Base Lewis McChord is the largest employer and the leading economic driver in the South Puget Sound Region. Transportation infrastructure for this lynchpin of the State’s economy should be the top priority of the Department of Transportation. Sadly, it is not even close.
You asked what the City of Lakewood is going to do to correct your problems. The solution lies in your chain of command, not ours. We can continue to work to obtain funding for the implementation of a permanent solution to the I-5 corridor traffic problems which plague Lakewood, its Tillicum neighborhood and Camp Murray. These will never be solved by relocation of a gate or rerouting traffic to failed I-5 interchanges.
We hope to have you as a partner in this endeavor. I believe that as the head of a state agency, you are in a unique position to influence both the Governor and the Department of Transportation to recognize, prioritize and fund the needed I-5 infrastructure improvements.
Very truly yours,
Donald L. Anderson, Deputy Mayor
City of Lakewood
