A healthy ROI awaits the state of Washington if its leaders are willing to make investments in transportation – that’s according to a new study released by Washington Roundtable and the Boston Consulting Group on Tuesday.
The study finds that a $7 billion investment to preserve and maintain state road and bridge networks and improve key economic corridors would generate $42 billion in benefits and increase state general fund tax revenues by $2 billion over 30 years. Additionally, such an investment would support 184,000 jobs, save $600 million per year in business supply chain costs, support $2.5 billion in port expansion, and reduce road repair costs by $650 million per year.
“Washington needs to act on transportation funding,” said Steve Mullin, Washington Roundtable president, in a press release. “The return on investment is overwhelmingly positive and the data paints a stark picture of what will happen without action. Transportation has to be a priority for the legislature in 2015.”
Alternatively, according to the study, a lack of new investment will result in significant road deterioration, millions more hours of congestion and higher costs for drivers.
“The outlook isn’t good if Washington continues to invest in transportation at current levels,” said Joel Janda, partner and managing director for The Boston Consulting Group. “60 percent of state highway pavement will end up in ‘poor’ condition or worse. 40 percent of bridges will be functionally obsolete or structurally deficient. It will be painful for everyone in Washington.”
While the Washington Roundtable/Boston Consulting Group study emphasizes statewide transportation maintenance, none of the individual bridge or corridor projects highlighted in the study are located in Southwest Washington.
A summary of the study is available here.
Washington Roundtable is a nonprofit public policy organization comprised on senior executives from major private sector employers throughout Washington state.
The Boston Consulting Group is a global management consulting firm with an office in Seattle.
