The proposed Regional Proposition 1 (ST3) is a $54 billion tax and spend proposal that would have a long lasting and huge negative impact on the finances of the City of Redmond and our region. ST3 is way out of the realm of reasonableness. It buys trains for Seattle at 12 times the cost of the SR 520 Bridge Replacement. For perspective, I have compared the City of Redmond’s current annual budget for transportation to the pro-rated share of east King subarea’s $9.8 billion that would be paid annually by Redmond residents in the accompanying chart.

The City of Redmond has a robust system for identifying transportation needs in the city. The current budget has about $19 million of transportation programs and projects per year. Most of that is for capital expenditures for street improvements on the roadways, sidewalks, bike lanes and transit ways.

Sound Transit’s ST3 proposal is a train project to satisfy politicians. It will do nothing to relieve traffic in Redmond or anywhere in east King County. The tiny ridership between downtown Redmond and Microsoft is insignificant.

The Sound Transit district is divided into five sub-areas, with Redmond in the east King subarea, which is projected to generate $9.8 billion in 25 years. There are 16 cities within the East King subarea with a total population of 585,000. Based on population, Redmond will generate about $41 million per year from the city’s residents and businesses toward ST3’s gigantic tax. That’s more than double the amount your elected council chooses to spend on transportation in the City of Redmond.

Traffic congestion is an item often mentioned as a problem in discussions of city issues. Redmond residents are stuck in traffic, and you know it.

Thus, traffic congestion is a top issue in Redmond and Sound Transit asks you to tax yourselves a huge amount to help Seattle pay for their second train tunnel plus light rail extensions to Everett, Tacoma and Issaquah. The light rail extensions to those cities are the epitome of foolishness for extending high capacity transit to the lowest density portions of our urban area. The Puget Sound Regional Council calculates a projected 0.4 percent of the regions’ daily person trips will take light rail in 2040 (PSRC, Transportation 2040, 2014 Update).

ST3 is a bad deal for Redmond and all of east King County.

Go to www.nost3.org for more information and the tax calculator to estimate your household taxes.

Victor H. Bishop, P.E.

Chair-elect, Eastside Transportation Association