It's time to invest in Washington

If Governor Christine Gregoire has one word for Grant County, it would be "invest."

The governor repeated that verb over and over again during her visit to the area Wednesday, which kicked off with a visit to the Grant County Advanced Technologies Education Center where she spoke before hundreds of local residents.

Gregoire noted the need for investment in alternative energy sources to alleviate American dependency on foreign oil and in education to enhance our workforce. She also addressed the need to solve the local water shortage crisis at the Odessa aquifer, for which, she reminded her audience, she recently helped provide a $600,000 grant.

And she was adamant in stressing the need to invest in our state's transportation infrastructure.

Part of the governor's visit yesterday included a glimpse of Highway 17, and a peek at what the state route could look like. Local Department of Transportation officials were on hand to display illustrations showing both the current status and proposed plans for Highway 17, including the Stratford Road interchange, the Parker Horn area and the stretch between Nelson and Wheeler roads.

There was excitement in the air as the governor spoke with DOT and other local officials about the plans for Highway 17, as well as a sense of something akin to accomplishment in that a solution has been found to a problem that's already been the foundation for too many deaths in this area.

But all that goodwill could fade next month as Initiative 912 faces voters.

It's a subject this newspaper has been discussing since we first heard of I-912, the initiative to repeal the Transportation Partnership Funding Package gas tax which went into effect in July. We've been telling people to vote against it in the November election ever since Sen. Joyce Mulliken visited our editorial board and explained how critical the tax is for our area. Keeping the tax is one thing the senator and governor from opposing political parties are heartily in agreement about.

But we're not done talking about it yet, and speaking with the governor Wednesday convinced us we need to continue to emphasize to our readers how important the tax is to our area, and the rest of Washington.

The governor admitted that not long ago, when she took office, she would not have voted for new taxes. But then, she said, "I educated myself.

"I went out and I saw first hand what's going on," she said of the current problems with the state's transportation system. "To me, this is all about saving lives."

We urge our readers to do the same. This isn't about pinching pennies, this is about paving the way for a safe future.

And there is no back-up plan in place.

"If I-912 passes, there's not an interest to go back and do anything," Gregoire said Wednesday.

Without funding, Highway 17 won't expand to four lanes in congested areas, increase safety between Moses Lake and Ephrata and add centerline barriers to prevent head-on collisions. It would also dampen growth of business in the area.

"The potential here is vast," she said of Grant County during her talk at ATEC. She cited our low electrical rates, large industrial-zoned areas, educated and skilled workforce, fiber optics system, international airport and strategic location as positives for the area.

But that potential can never flourish without adequate transportation infrastructure, both for the safety our residents and for the economic demands of our current and prospective industries.

The governor had another message in her speech at ATEC: the need to come together. We must decide to continue to tax ourselves and create a safe and efficient transportation system for the future, regardless of political party or whether we call the east or west side of the state home. This funding and the projects it will provide impact us all.

-- The Editorial Board