Transportation

In Washington state, we rely heavily on a variety of transportation modes--highway, rail, water, transit, air--all of which directly impact our economy. We also suffer from some of the worst traffic in the nation, which greatly affects our quality of life. Many of us often find ourselves sitting in traffic when we could be using that valuable time to spend with our families or put a few extra hours in at the office.

Following are the steps I am taking to improve transportation:

• As a member of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, I am focusing on core issues facing our highway, maritime transit, rail and aviation systems, and pipeline safety.  Through my work on this key committee, I have been able to bring the problems that are unique to the Puget Sound Area to the attention of Congress.
• I worked with my colleagues on both sides of the aisle to successfully pass important pipeline safety legislation. To read more about this historic pipeline safety legislation, click here. 
• Last spring I hosted a series of Transportation Town Hall meetings and sent a transportation survey to over 160,000 constituent households to provide information and receive feedback about transportation problems in the district and how we can work to alleviate them. To see the results of that survey, click here.
• This year the House will begin to reauthorize the Transportation Equity Act for the 21st Century, otherwise known as TEA-21. I will have an opportunity to directly participate in this legislative process. Although one person cannot address all of the transportation problems in our region, I am interested in the thoughts of my constituents as we begin to shape the regional priority projects that we eventually choose to address during the reauthorization of this important legislation.