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The Connection between Traffic, Freight and Jobs
About 70% of the cargo arriving in Puget Sound’s ports is destined for the American Mid-West and that cargo will move through whichever port (British Columbia, Puget Sound, California, Panama Canal) that will get it to Chicago or St. Louis the fastest.
The ports of Seattle and Tacoma have spent hundreds of millions of dollars over the last decade transforming aging docks into globally competitive Twenty-first Century terminals, but our state has been under investing in roads and corridors needed to move freight. Washington needs a Twenty-first Century freight transportation system if the Port of Seattle is to remain a competitive job generating engine for King County and Washington.
That is why the Port of Seattle is involved in the construction of 519, the expansion of the Spokane Street Viaduct and of West Marginal Way, the redevelopment of SR99 and the bored tunnel, and freight related traffic improvements in Kent and Auburn.
Jobs in King County depend on a road and transit system that moves people and freight efficiently.
To learn how many King Co. jobs depend upon the Port of Seattle, click here.
Bill Bryant is president of the King Co./Seattle Port Commission. He is also founder and chairman of BCI, an investor in Deneki Outdoors, and lives in Seattle with his wife Barbara.