S-5391               _______________________________________________

                                   SENATE CONCURRENT RESOLUTION NO. 8437

                        _______________________________________________

State of Washington                               51st Legislature                              1990 Regular Session

By Senators Patrick, Talmadge, Rasmussen, Vognild and Lee

Read first time 2/28/90.  Under suspension of rules read second and third times and adopted.

WHEREAS, Increasing traffic congestion in the Puget Sound area poses a threat to the environment, to economic development, and to the quality of life enjoyed by Washington state residents; and

          WHEREAS, The Seattle-Tacoma Airport, which will near traffic capacity with twenty-two million passengers in 1995, has little room for expansion, and there are rising concerns over public safety, the environment, and noise pollution; and

          WHEREAS, Wayports and super speed magnetic-levitation trains, with technology developed in this country and now being refined in Japan and Germany, may offer a solution to this state's burgeoning transportation problems; and

          WHEREAS, Grant County Airport in Moses Lake has four runways, two in excess of ten thousand feet, room for expansion with four thousand five hundred acres, and is located in an area with sparse population, minimum safety hazards, relatively low development costs, and favorable weather; and

          WHEREAS, A super speed train operating primarily on existing rights of way along I-90 and I-5 would physically join the state, would protect the environment, would improve safety, would minimize urban sprawl, would provide a catalyst for managed economic growth in rural areas, would decrease reliance on fossil fuels, and would bring economic development across the state; and

          WHEREAS, With regard to high speed rail in Washington, questions remain concerning the costs, possible funding sources, available energy sources, availability of technology, system routing, and construction costs;

          NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED, By the Senate of the state of Washington, the House of Representatives concurring, that the Legislative Transportation Committee shall undertake and complete a study by no later than November 1, 1991, as to the development of a wayport in Grant county and super speed magnetic levitation trains or other forms of high-speed transportation and complimentary transportation systems using, to the extent possible, the I-5 and I-90 transportation corridors.