Where do transportation dollars go?

By: Mary Strow
12:00 am
August 26, 2015

The Washington State Department of Transportation (WSDOT) is out with a comprehensive analysis of where transportation dollars come from, and where they’re spent.

The official title is “County By County Comparison: Estimated Return Per Dollar Contributed by Citizens within Each County.” It looks at state and federal transportation funds from 2003 through 2014.

Total contributions and expenditures in the 12-year fiscal period are $28.9 billion. WSDOT breaks down the sources and uses of funds in these charts:

WSDOT sources and uses of funds

Each county’s total return per dollar, for the 12-year period being analyzed, is laid out here:

WSDOT state rankings return per dollar

WSDOT notes that a county’s ranking moves up or down year to year when a major project, and thus the revenues flowing to it, is started or completed.

The report also analyzes the return per dollar not just for all 39 counties but among regions (Northwest, Southwest, North Central, Olympic, Eastern and South Central) and the Puget Sound region compared to the rest of the state. It breaks down the return per dollar by the 2003 and 2005 revenue packages, as well as by pre-existing funds (revenues coming from pre-2003 sources).

The regional returns per dollar are included below. They indicate that pre-existing funds slightly favored the rest of the state over Puget Sound, while the 2003 and 2005 revenue packages more distinctly favored Puget Sound over the rest of the state. Not a surprise, given Puget Sound’s population growth and major transportation infrastructure needs.

Pre-existing funds and the 2003 and 2005 revenue packages:

WSDOT regional total

Pre-existing funds only:

WSDOT regional pre existing

2003 revenue package:

wsdot regional 2003

2005 revenue package:

wsdot regional 2005

There are plenty more charts and data in the report, which you can read in its entirety here.

Categories: Categories , Transportation.
Tags: transportation