The Choices we make today shape our tomorrow.
WTP Vision 2050 embodies the understanding that the choices we make today will shape the reality of tomorrow. This plan’s vision statement calls for a delicate balance between addressing urgent transportation needs while also keeping an eye on long-term goals. Some initiatives will deliver immediate benefits, while others will require sustained effort and investment. This plan is our blueprint for navigating present challenges while creating a future that is safer, more connected, resilient, and prosperous.
transit services
Reimagining Growth: Corridor Urbanism
Washington state is growing fast. By 2050, our urban cores and rural communities will experience demographic and economic shifts that demand a new model of development. This plan integrates housing and land use planning with transportation strategies to encourage growth along key transportation corridors with mixed-use, mixed-income housing within walking distance of high capacity transit.
It suggests reformed zoning to encourage flexible, mid-scale development that matches community context and transportation capacity. It offers strategies to streamline development and lower development costs, which promote affordability. By linking where people live, work, and shop with how they move, we can reduce commute times, lower emissions, and support vibrant, walkable neighborhoods.
This approach offers substantial potential benefits: increased housing density, reduced reliance on single-occupancy vehicles, and enhanced transit accessibility. Environmental advantages include decreased energy and water consumption and lower carbon emissions. Studies estimate that, compared with traditional suburban development, dwellings in mixed-income and mixed-use developments consume 39% less energy and 62% less water.
Driving is reduced by 55%, and household costs by 53%. These developments can significantly boost the local tax base through increased property values. By strategically redeveloping existing corridors, we can create more sustainable, equitable, and economically vibrant communities, alleviating transportation pressures and fostering responsible urban growth.
It is Time for a Sustainable Funding Solution
Gas tax revenue projections are declining, and this decline will only accelerate each year as the vehicle fleet sees increases in fuel efficiency and alternative fuel use. The Washington State Transportation Commission predicts that by 2040, gas tax revenues will have decreased from $1.3 billion to roughly $500 million per year due to increasing fuel efficiency and the shift to electric vehicles, even with the current gas tax increase of 6 cents per gallon and 2% annual increases starting in 2026. We must act now to avoid a crisis.
A Road Usage Charge (RUC) is a proven approach to create sustainable long-term funding, and it is being implemented around the country. RUC not only enables funding stability, but it also reduces our reliance on the consumption of fossil fuels, supporting our environmental goals. RUC provides decision makers with policy levers to create a fairer and less regressive taxation structure, presenting opportunities to provide tax relief to the lowest-income households, while also ensuring all drivers pay their fair share for the use of the roads, regardless of what they drive or how far.
Planning for Uncertainty: Adaptability is Key
While predicting exactly what the world will look like in 2050 is nearly impossible, we do know that growth and change is inevitable. Rapidly growing populations in both urban and rural areas, advancements in technology, climate shifts, and evolving housing needs will all influence the future of transportation. The key is flexibility. The transportation sector is undergoing massive transformations, with electric vehicles potentially accounting for 50% of global car sales by 2030, and new mobility solutions like autonomous vehicles, e-bikes, on-demand transportation, and shared transportation becoming mainstream.
WTP Vision 2050 aims to create a transportation system that is adaptable to unforeseen challenges. By building flexibility and redundancy into our systems, we can more easily adjust when inevitable change arrives. Climate and resilience is an urgent priority. Washington state is already feeling the impacts of climate change, from wildfires to rising sea levels, and these threats will only intensify in the coming decades.
It is estimated that by 2050, temperatures in the state could rise by as much as 4.5 degrees, putting even more strain on our infrastructure. Washington state should incorporate resilience into planning to ensure that our transportation systems can withstand frequent and severe weather disruptions and that the transportation system of the future decreases our collective impact.
Integrating Emerging Technology
Building the future we want requires tackling multiple, complex and connected challenges, all while managing mobility effectively, preserving critical infrastructure, and prioritizing safety. This demands an integrated and coordinated approach across jurisdictions and sectors that pilots and explores emerging technology.
For example, integrating emerging technologies, such as AI-powered traffic management systems, machine learning, and data-driven maintenance models, can significantly improve efficiency and reliability.
Emerging transportation technologies like vehicle-to-infrastructure communication and smart traffic management systems are expected to significantly reduce congestion by optimizing traffic flow, improving safety, and enhancing real-time data analysis for better decision-making. At the same time, thoughtful and coordinated implementation of these technologies is vitally important to ensure they deliver the intended benefits without creating additional harms.
Tackling Inequities: Improving Quality of Life for All
Mounting research shows that lower-income and non-white communities are disproportionately impacted by limited access to reliable, affordable transportation. Average households in Washington state spend 31% of their income on housing and 23% on transportation, exceeding the traditional measure of affordability established by US Housing and Urban Development (HUD), recommending combined housing and transportation costs not exceed 45% of household income.
Our transportation system must offer long-term solutions to give families more options for reducing this burden. Investing in equitable access is essential for long-term success. Washington’s future prosperity depends on ensuring that all communities, especially historically overburdened ones, have access to safe, affordable, and efficient transportation options. Research by the American Public Transportation Association (APTA) shows that public transportation generates $5 in economic returns for every $1 invested, highlighting the value of equitable access not just for individuals, but for the entire economy.
The Path Forward: Collaborating for a Stronger Future
Solving Washington state’s transportation challenges will require unprecedented coordination. We must look for other successful models of cross-sector collaboration, like those of Challenge Seattle, an alliance of 23 organizations representing many of Seattle’s major employers and others, so we can integrate insights from technology companies, freight and logistics leaders, housing advocates, climate scientists, and others. By working together, government, businesses, and communities can implement systems-level thinking that considers all elements and delivers smarter, more durable outcomes.
Collaboration can be incentivized at all levels of government through shared planning and visioning, shared investment, and shared accountability. Several examples include new competitive grant programs that prioritize multi-jurisdictional partnerships, co-funded corridor plans, housing and transit alignment incentives that waive parking requirements or allow for density bonuses, shared data platforms, and interagency performance targets.
More combined efforts will result in a transportation system that not only meets the needs of today but also fosters a high quality of life for all Washingtonians for generations to come. The choices we make today will determine whether Washington state’s future is one of resilience or fragility, inclusion or inequality, congestion or connection. By embracing visionary planning, equitable investment, climate resilience, and funding innovation, we can build a transportation future that works for everyone.
Goals & Stategies
Our Statewide Policy GoalsThe Road AheadAppendicesPolicy Priority Areas
