Last week, our agency gathered together with counties and partners in Vancouver for the Washington Association of Counties' 2024 County Leadership Conference.
This year's theme was "Moving Forward Together" and it resonated deeply with the (ambitious) goals our agency has for 2025. As with most conferences, it was a whirlwind of educational sessions, networking, and idea sharing for our staff. However, this conference felt a bit different. Why?
Because, for the first time in decades, our agency is proposing a new grant program; one that we believe will be a significant step forward for our county road system and transportation as a whole in Washington State.
Recommending a new program is not something we do flippantly or regularly. But after years of hearing the frustrations of our counties, studying the issue, and researching options, it is our belief that the best possible solution for all stakeholders would be a new local roads grant program to provide critical capital and preservation funds.
We provided a brief sneak peak of what we have been researching and drafting back in September and we were able to share our proposal last week with the Washington State Association of County Engineers, county commissioners and staff and, finally, with the Joint Transportation Committee.
First, we started with a bit of fun.
As the program was being discussed, we recognized early on that we could not effectively capture the state of local roads, the challenges they face and how vital they are to communities without our county partners. To "make it a game, not a grind" we decided to create an ugly road contest, affectionately dubbed the Miss Dungeness Pageant, to request County Engineers and their staffs share narratives, data and photos of their most distressed local roads.
During the WSACE business meeting, Executive Director Jane Wall crowned our winner, runners up and Miss Congeniality. Everyone enjoyed some laughs viewing a montage of nominees, hearing amusing quotes from the nominations and watching the asphalt trophy and a bouquet befitting of an engineer be presented to Miss 15th Avenue of King County.
A sincere thank you to all who contributed and please keep those examples (and program name suggestions) coming!
The following day, we presented to a broader audience of county commissioners, councilmembers and leaders using those same roads as examples of the problems we are trying to solve with this proposed program.
We shared how local roads are all around us, hidden in plain sight and not homogenous in their challenge or needs. They don't look the way you might think, aren't found where you might think, serve many roles, are critical for government services at all levels and must have a seat at the table for conversations around the economy, environment and safety.
We asked audience members to make this program a legislative priority, connect us with stakeholders who use these roads in their communities, and to provide feedback on the program itself. We received a good response and it has already led to helpful insights, stronger connections being built and thought-provoking questions being asked.
Whether you were in attendance at the conference or not, please know that this extends to you as well. If you have any feedback, thoughts or questions as we move forward, we welcome it - just reach out to any member of our team!
On the final day of the conference we shared our proposal with the Joint Transportation Committee for the first time, joined by a full room of safety vest and button-wearing public works professionals and county leaders showing their support for the program.
Most people, and even policymakers, are unaware that a) at 48,917 lane miles county local roads are over a THIRD of the entire road network in Washington (state/city/county) and b) there is not a dedicated grant funding program for these roads. It is a giant pothole of a funding gap in our transportation system.
Jane shared about the critical problems these roads are facing and how we want to be a part of the solution.
Without getting too far into the weeds, we are proposing a competitive grant program with the same commitment to effectiveness and efficiency as our existing programs. It would be designed with a scoring criteria that would drive investments to the areas of highest need in all 39 counties as long as they are meeting current compliance requirements. The program would be flexible enough to address diverse project type needs and would be launched with a phased-in approach over four years.
Be sure to watch the session here if you would like to learn more about what the program would look like!
We know there are many challenges and issues our counties and state are facing. Throughout the conference we heard about industry-wide challenges with regulations, new standards, technology changes, labor shortages and difficult political environments.
But this is an issue we are facing in all counties east and west, urban and rural, large and small. It was heartening to see that reflected in neon across a diverse audience coming together to help us get this program off the ground.
Going back to the conference theme, we need to move forward on this cause and the only way we will make progress and solve the problem is together. We hope you'll join us!
