Washington hasn’t increased the gas tax in eight years, but transportation system maintenance needs and demand for new projects have grown.

As the 2012 Connecting Washington Task Force report explains,

Fuel tax increases in 2003 and 2005 made it possible to issue bonds to pay for 421 transportation projects throughout the state. That means the funding generated by those increases is fully committed to debt service, and the remaining revenue is not sufficient to meet current needs. Since 2001, real funding for maintenance and operations of the system has declined by 49 percent while construction costs have risen 77 percent.

The House Transportation Committee chair has proposed a 10-year, $10 billion transportation plan. (For details, see here.)

In a new policy brief, we look at the state’s transportation demands, how transportation is funded (33 percent from the gas tax, 24 percent from bonding), and recent funding history.