Puget Sound Regional Council outlines $335B regional transportation plan and a 17% funding gap

Kelly McGorty, director of transportation planning at the Puget Sound Regional Council, presented highlights from PSRC’s newly adopted Regional Transportation Plan (RTP). McGorty said the board selected a scenario focused on maintenance and transit and that the plan carries an estimated $335 billion cost through 2050, of which roughly 83% can be funded by current‑law revenue assumptions; the remaining 17% is the plan’s financing gap.

"We expect to see about 116 miles of light rail by 2050, a doubling of our bus rapid transit routes, and a 90% increase in transit service hours," McGorty said, noting the plan’s emphasis on multimodal investments and state‑of‑good‑repair priorities. She described PSRC’s decision to use a flexible financial strategy rather than prescriptive revenue assumptions and listed potential tools—road usage charges, transit sales tax increases, vehicle license fees and county road levies—while acknowledging equity and burden concerns across households.

Commissioners applauded PSRC’s visualization tools, performance dashboard and outreach; they asked how PSRC intends to fill the 17% gap without imposing an excessive tax burden on households. McGorty said the next work program is a deeper examination of each revenue source, its regional feasibility and equity impacts and that PSRC will convene partners to develop action steps rather than assume a single regional approach.