Tag Archives: WSDOT

Washington reaches highest number of traffic fatalities in 33 years

Note: The following e-newsletter was sent to Sen. Padden’s subscribers May 17, 2024. To subscribe to Sen. Padden’s newsletter, click here.

Dear friends and neighbors,

Our state is experiencing an increase in fatal and serious-injury crashes on our roads and highways that is shocking and heartbreaking. We’re failing to protect our families, friends and children.

Earlier this week, the Washington Traffic Safety Commission issued a report revealing our state has reached a 33-year high for traffic fatalities. The report showed 810 people were killed in crashes involving a motor vehicle in 2023, an increase from 743 killed in 2022.

Of the 810 traffic deaths last year, nearly half (400) involved a drug- or alcohol-impaired driver, while 251 involved excessive speed, 171 involved not wearing a seatbelt or other restraint, and 135 involved a distracted driver. What is so tragic about these fatality figures is that these deaths could have been prevented if drivers were more careful and responsible when behind the wheel. 

What is especially troubling about Washington’s rise in traffic deaths is that the rest of America is driving more safely. According to a Seattle Times story about the WTSC report, Washington’s increase in road fatalities runs counter to national figures. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration reports 40,990 people died on U.S. roads last year, a 3.6% decrease from 2022. The Times story noted that nearly every other state recorded fewer deaths than the year before.

It’s unacceptable that nearly half of the 810 traffic deaths in 2023 in our state involved impaired drivers. The Legislature has taken recent steps to reduce impaired driving, including making a fourth DUI conviction a felony and expanding the “lookback” period for reviewing prior impaired-driving convictions to 15 years, instead of 10. We also passed the initiative restoring police pursuits, which should allow officers to apprehend more bad drivers on roads and highways.

But more needs to be done! It would be good to see the Washington Traffic Safety Commission and Washington State Patrol work to increase public awareness about impaired driving so more people avoid driving after downing too many drinks or taking drugs that can impair their driving ability. The Traffic Safety Commission and State Patrol also should do more to remind drivers to keep their eyes on the road instead of focusing on their cell phones or other things that can distract them.    

The Legislature also can do more to reduce impaired driving, which contributes to so many of our state’s traffic deaths. Last year, I introduced Senate Bill 5791, a bipartisan proposal, supported by the State Patrol, that would require WSP to establish a pilot program to evaluate the outcomes and effectiveness of oral fluid roadside information (basically, an oral swab) collected by law enforcement when impaired driving is suspected. (Taking the oral swab would be voluntary for drivers.) After being passed by the Senate Transportation Committee during this year’s session, SB 5791 died when it was on deck for a full Senate vote.

Several other states have implemented oral swab testing (which detects six drugs and alcohol) on suspected impaired drivers, and the results have been positive. My hope is that another legislator will sponsor this bill next year after I retire from the Senate and that the Legislature will finally pass this measure. It should help reduce impaired driving and lower the number of traffic deaths in our state.         

If you have questions about how to participate in state government this year or thoughts to share on anything in this e-newsletter, please give me a call or send me an email. 

Thank you, as always, for the honor of representing you in Olympia!

Best Regards,

Senator Mike Padden

Efforts to increase number of law-enforcement officers in state

Senator Padden and other attendees during last October’s ribbon-cutting ceremony at the new law-enforcement training center run jointly by the Spokane County Sheriff’s Office and the United States Air Force. 

Another reason for Washington’s rise in traffic fatalities is the lack of law-enforcement officers in our communities. Many law-enforcement agencies, anti-crime advocates and legislators have pointed out in recent years that Washington ranks dead last (51st out of the 50 states plus the District of Columbia) for the number of law-enforcement officers per capita.

Washington’s extremely low number of police officers in communities also is a key reason why crime continues to rise across our state.

An article recently published by Seattle-based Crosscut offers some reasons for the low number of law-enforcement officers across Washington, beyond the simple fact that more are leaving the profession than entering it. The net loss in officers makes it hard for the remaining officers to maintain law and order in their communities.

The Crosscut story cited several likely reasons for the drop in police officers: job pressures, burnout, frustrations, the fluctuating stigmas of being a cop, bad hours for raising a family, sometimes long commutes because an officer cannot afford to live in the city they are protecting and a lack of local money to hire new law-enforcement officers.  

Many people argue that the backlash against police officers in 2020 following George Floyd’s death in Minneapolis and the ensuing demonstrations and riots in Seattle and other cities across the nation caused many officers to leave law enforcement for other jobs. The combination of “officer loss” and pro-criminal laws passed by the Democrat-controlled Legislature in recent years has contributed greatly to the increase in many types of crime in Washington, including murders, auto thefts and robberies.      

Fortunately, the Legislature finally has recognized the problem of a lack of law-enforcement officers and taken steps to fix it. This part of the Crosscut article discusses what the state has done to tackle the lack of officers:

In 2022, the Criminal Justice Training Center added a campus in Spokane. This year, other satellite centers started operating in Pasco and Vancouver. Another is expected to open in Arlington later this year. One of the hurdles to training recruits is that it is difficult for many — especially those with children — to spend four and a half months in Burien. The satellite campuses are designed to address that while raising the total capacity to train 870 police recruits in 2025, plus 800 correctional officers, misdemeanor probation officers and other roles. 

Another improvement is that it no longer costs local law enforcement to send their recruits in for training. Until this year, local police and sheriff’s departments had to pay 25% of the training costs for each recruit. After legislative action this year, the state is paying 100% of the bill.

4th District Government Guide still available at many locations

As mentioned in my e-newsletter in recent weeks, there is a new 4th District Government Guide for districts residents to use. The free guide includes names and contact information for officials at the federal, statewide, legislative and local government levels. It also provides other helpful information. If you would like to have a copy of the new government guide mailed to you, please call my legislative assistant, Annalise Hemingway, at 509-921-2460 or email her at annalise.hemingway@leg.wa.gov.

There also are copies of the updated government guide at these locations:

  • Millwood City Hall (9103 E Frederick Ave., Spokane)
  • Argonne Library (4322 N Argonne Road, Spokane)
  • Spokane Valley City Hall (10210 E Sprague Ave., Spokane Valley)
  • Spokane Valley Library (22 N. Herald Road, Spokane Valley)
  • Liberty Lake City Hall (22710 E Country Vista Drive, Liberty Lake)
  • Liberty Lake Library (23123 E Mission Ave., Liberty Lake)
  • Otis Orchards Library (22324 E Wellesley Ave., Otis Orchards)
  • Spokane Valley Senior Center (2426 N Discovery Place, Spokane Valley)

Washington had largest increase for drug-overdose deaths among states

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) on Wednesday released its monthly report on drug-overdose deaths by state. This report covers all 12 months of 2023. A Seattle Times story reported that overdose deaths in the U.S. declined by nearly 3,500 deaths from the prior year, or 3.1%.

Unfortunately, Washington state actually is leading the nation in the increase in overdose deaths in 2023 (going from 2,763 in 2022 to 3,526 in 2023, an increase of 763). In percentage terms, this was a 27.6% year-over-year increase, only outpaced by Alaska (44.1%), Oregon (30%) and Nevada (28.9%).     

To put this in perspective, California and Texas combined saw a smaller increase in overdose deaths than Washington, despite having nearly 10 times our state’s population.      

When the state Supreme Court issued its Blake decision in February 2021, Washington was 31st in the country in per-capita drug overdose death rate, with a rate 20% below the national average. Washington now ranks ninth-highest in the country, with a rate over 40% higher than the national average.   

West Virginia ranks first in drug-overdose death rate with 81.2 deaths per 100,000 population, followed by Tennessee (53.4 deaths), Delaware (51.6), Louisiana (49.0), Alaska (48.5), New Mexico (47.9), Kentucky (47.1), Nevada (45.7), Washington (45.3) and Maine (42.9). Oregon ranks 11th, with 42.7 deaths. 

See WSDOT’s aerial photo of new Barker Road roundabout

(Photo courtesy of Washington State Department of Transportation)

Even though the recently completed Barker Road roundabout was mentioned in an earlier e-newsletter just a couple of weeks ago, the Eastern Region office of the state Department of Transportation provided this aerial photo of the new roundabout near I-90. It is worth a look.

Video shows problem with ranked choice voting

In recent years, some individuals and groups have been pushing an unusual and very rarely used voting system called “ranked choice voting“ or “RCV.”

Pierce County used ranked choice voting for a couple of years in the early 2000s before getting rid of it.

This video discusses the problems with RCV. If a bill to implement ranked choice voting in Washington had reached the Senate floor for a vote, I would have been a resounding “no.”

Receiving lifetime award

It was my honor to recently receive this lifetime achievement award from the Spokane County Republican Party for my years as a 4th District legislator.

Contact us!

If you have a question or concern about state government, please do not hesitate to contact our office. During the interim we are conducting business from our district office in Spokane Valley. We are here to serve you!

Phone: 509-921-2460

Email address: Mike.Padden@leg.wa.gov

PLEASE NOTE: Any email or documents you provide to this office may be subject to disclosure under RCW 42.56. If you would prefer to communicate by phone, please contact Sen. Padden’s Olympia office at (360) 786-7606.

To request public records from Sen. Padden, please contact Randi Stratton, the designated public records officer for the Secretary of the Senate and Senate members.

    

Pain at the pump grows

Note: The following e-newsletter was sent to Sen. Padden’s subscribers September 12, 2023. To subscribe to Sen. Padden’s newsletter, click here.

Dear friends and neighbors,

Throughout this year, drivers around our state have been forced to pay much more for gasoline than in nearly every other state, with the notable exception of California. The cause for the higher gas prices is the cap-and-trade program, fully implemented on January 1 through the Climate Commitment Act that was requested by Governor Inslee and passed a couple of years ago by Democratic majorities in the Legislature.

Unfortunately, we should expect gas prices to rise yet again. 

On August 30, the state Department of Ecology held its latest quarterly carbon auction under cap-and-trade. The cost of the “allowances” at that auction is expected to eventually drive the cumulative gas-price hike associated with cap-and-trade to over 51 cents a gallon.

According to AAA’s state-by-state gas price averages, Washington’s average gas price yesterday was $5.066 a gallon, roughly 30 cents a gallon more than the two next most expensive states (Hawaii at $4.784 and Oregon at $4.720) and only behind California, which tops gas prices nationally at $5.439.

It isn’t surprising that our state’s high gas prices have pushed many drivers across the border to buy cheaper gas in Idaho, which hurts retailers in Spokane County and other border counties.

Governor Inslee has encouraged the higher gas prices to happen. Besides pushing for cap-and-trade two years ago, Inslee has done nothing to reduce the higher gas prices; instead, he demonizes oil companies for passing along the higher costs to consumers. The governor has rejected proposed solutions by Republican legislators to lower gas prices. Meanwhile, low-income people, whom the governor claims to care about, have been hit especially hard since they typically must devote a larger portion of their income toward gas and transportation because of where they live, especially those in rural areas.   

Since carbon auctions authorized by the state’s cap-and-trade program began this year, nearly $1.5 billion has been collected – money taken from hard-working Washingtonians for programs that will make environmentalists happy but very likely will NOT reduce carbon emissions or improve the climate.

My colleague, Senator Curtis King of Yakima and the lead Republican on the Senate Transportation Committee, issued a news release last week that criticized the most recent carbon auction and the cap-and-trade program in general.

In his news release, Senator King said: “Governor Inslee’s policy is trying to impoverish Washingtonians into changing their driving behavior by making them stop driving gas-powered cars, and at the same time attempting to make it more expensive for many people to heat their homes because cap-and-trade will raise natural-gas prices as well. This program championed by our governor is being unnecessarily cruel to many people in our state by causing fuel and heating prices to soar.”

While drivers in most states see gas prices below $4 a gallon, drivers in our state are being forced to pay at least $5 a gallon thanks to the cap-and-trade program (California, which also has a cap-and-trade program, is the other state with gas over $5). Gas prices are bound to become higher thanks to this very expensive program, which won’t do a thing to reduce global carbon emissions.

Todd Myers, the Washington Policy Center’s environmental analyst, recently wrote a column  that also was critical of the latest carbon auction and its impact on gas prices. Part of Todd’s piece is especially noteworthy:

Washington’s climate law needs a significant overhaul, because even Ecology’s low projections show costs increasing through 2030. Two things should be done in the near term.

First, waive the state’s CO2 target and cap prices at California’s price. Our extremely aggressive 2030 target is a big driver in the excessive price. No amount of fiddling with the system or special auctions will make costs reasonable as long as the cap is so extreme.

Second, we should remove any restrictions on private CO2-reduction projects, sometimes called “carbon offsets.” Ecology’s own analysis shows we could reduce the same amount of CO2 for lower cost by allowing innovators to find alternative ways to cut emissions. Even as the environmental community attacks carbon offsets, they support spending government money on projects that are literally identical. For example, Washington’s taxpayer-funded Clean Energy Fund offers grants to projects like carbon capture to reduce atmospheric CO2. However, if a successful carbon-capture technology was actually created, state law would prohibit it from being used to meet requirements of the CCA. Fund a technology, then ban it. It is absurd.

Elected officials should encourage all CO2-reducing innovation in order to meet the state’s climate goals at an affordable price. The Governor and legislators don’t want that, however, because although allowing innovative approaches to cut emissions would help meet Washington’s CO2 targets, the money for those projects doesn’t go to the state. It is clear that the Governor is prioritizing increased taxes over reducing CO2 efficiently.

If you have questions about how to participate in state government this year or thoughts to share on anything in this e-newsletter, please give me a call or send me an email.

Thank you, as always, for the honor of serving as your state senator!

Best Regards,

Senator Mike Padden

Spokane Conservation District provides post-fire assistance on Oregon Fire

If you or any of your neighbors were affected by the recent Oregon Fire in northern Spokane County, the Spokane Conservation District is providing post-fire technical assistance. You can learn more or request fire assistance by going here. 

The conservation district provided this information about post-fire assistance in its latest e-newsletter: 

Spokane Conservation District is here to provide support and resources to landowners in Spokane County who have been impacted by the devastating Oregon Rd. fire and Gray fire. Our team of specialists will come to your property and conduct a thorough assessment, providing informed recommendations based on your goals for the property. Additionally, we will also inform landowners of current programs that may provide financial assistance for necessary actions.

Bridge event in Liberty Lake

Senator Padden (second from left) sits with Central Valley School District Superintendent John Parker (left), Spokane Valley Fire Department Chief Frank Soto Jr. (second from right) and Liberty Lake Mayor Cris Kaminskas (right) during Saturday’s ribbon-cutting ceremony for the opening of the new Lud Kramer Bridge.

Last Saturday morning, I was one of the speakers at the ribbon-cutting event for the new Lud Kramer Bridge, located in Liberty Lake. Other speakers included Liberty Lake Mayor Cris Kaminskas, Central Valley School District Superintendent John Parker, Spokane Valley Fire Department Chief Frank Soto Jr., Washington State Department of Transportation Regional Administrator Todd Trepanier and Greater Spokane Valley Chamber of Commerce President Lance Beck. The event was sponsored by the Greater Spokane Valley Chamber of Commerce.

The new bridge will help provide congestion relief for Liberty Lake. Students will have easier access to Selkirk Middle School, as well as the new Ridgeline High School that opened a few years ago. This project also will benefit the community’s police and fire departments. For example, Spokane Valley Fire Station 3 is located on the south side of the bridge and can now respond more quickly to calls to the north of I-90.

Thanks go to several people for their hard work to make the new bridge a reality, especially former Liberty Lake Mayor Steve Peterson, former state Department of Transportation Eastern Region Director Mike Gribner and current Liberty Lake Mayor Cris Kaminskas. The project was a partnership between the state Department of Transportation and the City of Liberty Lake.

With the new bridge in the background, Senator Padden speaks during the ribbon-cutting ceremony for the new span.

Work began in October 2021 on the crossing, which is named after Lud Kramer, a former Washington secretary of state who later settled in Liberty Lake. The bridge will create an additional north/south connection between Country Vista Drive and Mission Avenue. This will alleviate traffic from needing to use Harvard Road over I-90 or Barker Road.

The funding for the bridge project – nearly $9 million – was through the state Connecting Washington transportation funding package passed by the Legislature in 2015. An additional $4.1 million was provided by the City of Liberty Lake for the project. Included in that $4.1 million was a small contribution by Spokane County.

This project was part of the overall Barker to Harvard project which included:

  • Roundabouts at the on/off-ramps at Barker Road and I-90.
  • Widening the Harvard Bridge over I-90 in Liberty Lake to add a exit only lane for NB travel to WB I-90. This project also extended both westbound I-90 on-ramps to allow longer merge lanes.

Other recent events and meetings

A train locomotive that is part of the Palouse River and Coulee City Railroad was seen during the Harvest Rail Tour.

Over the past couple of weeks, I have attended other meetings or events in the 4th Legislative District or elsewhere in our state. Here is a partial recap of legislative events I attended:

  • Harvest Rail Tour: On September 5, I joined several legislators from both sides of the state in Cheney for the annual Harvest Rail Tour, organized by the HighLine Grain Growers. The tour of the Palouse River and Coulee City Railroad began with the grain growers showing us the Four Lakes Shuttle Loading Facility, followed by a five-mile ride on Washington Eastern Railroad engines. The legislative group later went to Davenport to see rail realignment and loading facility improvements, followed by a meeting at Spokane International Airport. During the tour, legislators learned about how the rail line contributes to job growth in the region, including additional jobs at the Louisiana Pacific facility.
  • Legislative Police Academy: On September 7-8, I was in Tacoma for the Legislator Police Academy, hosted by the National Conference on State Legislatures. On the first day of the event, attendees, including legislators from nine states, heard speeches by my colleague, Senator John Lovick, a former Washington State Patrol trooper and former Snohomish County sheriff; and Monica Alexander, executive director of the Washington State Criminal Justice Training Commission. Later last Thursday, two NCSL staff members shared legislative trends, followed by a legislative roundtable discussion.

Contact us!

If you have a question or concern about state government, please do not hesitate to contact our office. During the interim we are conducting business from our district office in Spokane Valley. We are here to serve you!

Phone: (509) 921-2460

Email address: Mike.Padden@leg.wa.gov

PLEASE NOTE: Any email or documents you provide to this office may be subject to disclosure under RCW 42.56. If you would prefer to communicate by phone, please contact Sen. Padden’s Olympia office at (360) 786-7606.

To request public records from Sen. Padden, please contact Randi Stratton, the designated public records officer for the Secretary of the Senate and Senate members.

Padden lauds Spokane Valley win of grant for highway safety upgrades

A grant award announced today puts the city of Spokane Valley $5 million closer to moving ahead with a long-awaited road-improvement effort.

Sen. Mike Padden, R-Spokane Valley, said the money will ultimately go toward constructing a railroad underpass where BNSF tracks now cross Pines Road (State Route 27). It also will contribute to the construction of a roundabout at the nearby intersection of Pines Road and Trent Avenue (State Route 290).

“These improvements are incredibly important to Spokane Valley and the surrounding region because they offer so many benefits: fewer collisions, less congestion, better emergency access, a boost to economic development and more,” said Padden, a member of the Senate Transportation Committee. “This grant is a big win because it provides the needed state match for federal funding. The grant now provides enough money for the project to begin.”

“Senator Padden’s efforts in Olympia were instrumental for Spokane Valley,” stated Spokane Valley Mayor Pam Haley. “This $5 million award from Washington state leverages $30 million of federal funds to deliver this important project. We look forward to working with all our project partners to begin construction as soon as possible.”

The $5 million grant was provided by the state Department of Transportation.

“We appreciate the help on this grant from the department’s Eastern Region office, especially Mike Gribner, the regional administrator for that office,” said Padden.

From a safety standpoint, Padden explained, the Pines Road-BNSF crossing ranks among the most serious road-rail “conflict” locations in Washington, as emergency vehicles can be delayed either by the rail crossing or the busy highway intersection. The same issues contribute to traffic congestion and have discouraged development of commercial property in the area.

Between freight and passenger trains, the BNSF crossing sees an estimated average of 67 train crossings daily, which can easily cause backups into the Pines Road-Trent Avenue intersection. The estimates are 2,400 vehicles delayed each day, due to the crossing being blocked for more than 3½ hours a day.

“Between the new underpass and the new roundabout, this will mean a huge improvement in the flow of traffic. Today’s announcement of funding puts it all one step closer to reality,” said Padden.