FAQs

What is the Eastside Transportation Association (ETA)?
What is the mission of the ETA?
And how would you propose that these improvements be paid for?
What are some products of ETA's work?
 

Frequently Asked Questions

  Who belongs to the ETA?
  What are the core principles and philosophy of ETA?
  What does the ETA do to actualize its philosophy?
  What happens at ETA meetings?
  When and where are ETA meetings held? 

What is the Eastside Transportation Association (ETA)?

ETA is a private-sector group dedicated to improving our quality of life and the environment by reducing congestion in the Puget Sound Region through increased mobility.

Who belongs to the ETA?

Our membership includes concerned citizens, business representatives, and transportation professionals from the east side of Lake Washington.

What is the mission of the ETA?

We strive to bring a degree of objectivity and simplification to the political decision-making process for defining, selecting and funding transportation projects for design and implementation. 

What are the core principles and philosophy of ETA?

We support development of policies that encourage each mode of transportation to operate efficiently and economically within its market share while meeting demand.  We want to insure that all transportation projects are done in an environmentally sensitive manner and that transportation projects are seen as the vehicle to correct many of our environmental problems of the past. 

Finally we want to avoid using costly transportation projects in order to try to change or influence human behavior.  Rather we support the development of a transportation system to support increased efficiency, productivity and quality of life by allowing us choices to go where we want to go, how we want to go, when we want to go and with whom we want to go.

And how would you propose that these improvements be paid for?

We recognize that State funding must be uniform and therefore its capabilities are limited by the economies of our rural areas.  Therefore, our State funding foundation must be supplemented by regional funding to meet the growth demands of our three county region of King, Pierce, and Snohomish. 

This region is the economic engine of the state and has the wealth to afford continued growth and development.  We seek ways to reduce project costs in order to have money to build other needed projects.  We support financing plans that relate the use of the system and the benefits of its expansion to meet the costs. 

Although we recognize that capital costs of a transportation system may initially need to be subsidized by general taxes, we believe that the operational costs of any transportation system should ultimately be born by its users.   We work to find financing solutions that meet these criteria and oppose financing schemes that subsidize the operational costs of travel at general taxpayers expense.

ETA members (left to right) George Kargianis, Jim Horn, and Dick Paylor planning a meeting with the Washington State Attorney General in August 2006.

What does the ETA do to actualize its philosophy?

Many of our members are transportation engineers or other analytical and design-oriented professionals. They conduct research -- collect and analyze data, interpret and make judgments as to its meaning, and formulate conclusions and recommendations bearing on public policy.

We are first and foremost working to improve the understanding of the interaction between density of the region and market share for various modes of transportation.

Our research brings more quantitative rigor and objectivity to transportation planning, which should be based on performance objectives rather than on preconceptions and ideology. For example, we avoid using terms like "modal balance" and "transportation choices," which are imprecise and can lead to poor decisions.

What are some products of ETA's work?

We prepare many letters to public officials on key issues, for example:
 

• March 8, 2007 letter to Sen. Haugen, Sen. Swecker, Rep. Clibborn and Rep. Jarrett on Regional Transportation Committee (RTC) Reports

• September 1, 2006 letter comments to WSDOT on the Washington State Transportation Plan. 

• July 12, 2006 letter to Governor Christine Gregoire on high capacity mode choice for the I-90 cross-Lake corridor.

• October 12, 2005 letter to DOT Secretary Doug MacDonald to encourage independent study of the I-90 floating bridge corridor.  

• June 7, 2005 letter to Transportation Commission Chair Aubrey Davis on an 8-Lane alternative for the SR-520 floating bridge.  

• July 29, 2004 letter to Mercer Island City Council on the I-90 center roadway 

We also prepare articles for publication, such as The Seattle Times op-ed on October 24, 2006, "Our region's growing future demands an eight-lane 520 Bridge," which was subsequently mentioned the following November 7 on the editorial page of the Times.

These products, and others, such as our Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) brochure, are provided in the documents section of this web site.       

What happens at ETA meetings? 

We have speakers who make presentations, answer questions, and engage in discussion with members. Recent speakers have included:

• John Marchione, Mayor of Redmond

• Katy Taylor, Director of the Public Transportation Division at WSDOT

• John Shadoff, Chuck Collins & Bill Eager shared expertise on the Vanpool Expansion Program

• Senator Mary Margaret Haugen, Senate Transportation Committee Chair

• Mike Cummings, Washington Department of Transportation

• Ava Frisinger, Mayor of Issaquah, and 2007 Chair of the Eastside Transportation Partnership

• Dale Stedman, State Transportation Commission member and past chair

• Senator Bill Finkbeiner, Minority leader of Senate and key transportation negotiator

• Councilmember Shawn Bunney, Chair of the Regional Transportation Investment District (RTID)

• Senator Luke Esser, Republican Floor Leader and Transportation Committee Member

• Senator Mary-Margaret Haugen, Senate Transportation Chairman

• David Dye, Washington State DOT Urban Corridors Administrator

• Bob Drewel, Executive Director of Puget Sound Regional Council, which is the federally-required and state-designated metropolitan planning organization (MPO)

• Senator Dan McDonald, member of Regional Transportation Committee (RTC)

When and where are ETA meetings held?

The ETA monthly general membership meetings are generally held on the last Tuesday of the month at 7:30 AM on the Unigard corporate campus in East Bellevue, 15805 NE 24th Street, located on the corner of 156^th Ave NE and NE 24^th St.

Click here for driving directions to Unigard

Click here for the 2007 schedule of meetings