Washington State House of Representatives	BILL ANALYSIS
Transportation Committee

ESSB 5748

Brief Description:  Integrating transportation and land use planning.

Sponsors:  Senate Committee on Transportation (originally sponsored by Senators McAuliffe, Horn, Shin, Winsley, Oke, Haugen, Kohl‑Welles and Kastama; by request of The Blue Ribbon Commission on Transportation).

Brief Summary of Engrossed Substitute Bill

$Sets forth legislative intent that cities should integrate development, land use planning, and transportation planning.

$Directs the Department of Transportation (DOT) and the Transportation Improvement Board (TIB), when prioritizing projects, to address urban densities and downtown revitalization, and integration of land use and transportation.

Hearing Date:  2/27/02

Staff:  Gene Baxstrom (786‑7303).

Background:

The Governor and the Legislature created the Blue Ribbon Commission on Transportation (BRCT) in 1998 to do the following:  assess the local, regional and state transportation system; ensure that current and future money is spent wisely; make the system more accountable and predictable; and prepare a 20‑year plan for funding and investing in the transportation system.

In recommendation five, the BRCT recommended that the state invest in maintenance, preservation and improvement of the entire transportation system so that transportation benchmarks can be achieved.  Specifically, the commission recommended that jurisdictions integrate transportation and land use planning by developing a long‑term and effective strategy to reduce both traffic and investment costs by focusing new commercial and multi‑family growth in existing downtown, pedestrian and transit‑friendly neighborhoods.

Summary of Bill:

City and county planning commissions, in carrying out their duties, should demonstrate how land use planning is integrated with transportation planning.  City comprehensive plans should integrate transportation and land use planning.

Priority programming criteria for the highway improvement program are expanded to include:  support for development in and revitalization of existing downtowns; the extent that development implements local comprehensive plans; the extent of compact, transit‑oriented development at appropriate residential and nonresidential densities; and the feasibility of multimodal transportation.  The statewide transportation plan must also take into account downtown preservation, population accommodation, and employment growth.

The Transportation Improvement Board is to consider the following criteria in funding projects:  downtown support; implementation of rural and urban densities; whether agencies have land use planning that encourages compact development and multimodal transportation; and whether they promote use of multimodal transportation.

Appropriation:  None.

Fiscal Note:  Available.

Effective Date:  Ninety days after adjournment of session in which bill is passed.