Join 350 WA's Just Transition in Transportation Campaign!
Last spring (2021), the legislature tried and failed to pass a 16-year transportation package. The funding they proposed would have defined our transportation system until 2037, and the overwhelming majority of the investments were in highway projects. We know road expansion doesn’t solve gridlock, it just expands pollution, asthma and climate change. Now a team of 8 Democratic lawmakers are meeting behind closed doors to negotiate a new package that may come up for a vote during the November Assembly Days. Based on what we’re hearing, they seem poised, once again, to vote to expand our current highway-centric system that dirties our air and threatens our climate future.
We are organizing with Disability Rights WA, Front and Centered and the Transit Rider’s Union to oppose highway expansion and demand dramatic increases in investments in public transportation, bike and sidewalk infrastructure, as well as rail and electric-vehicle charging infrastructure. We need your help to create the political pressure for a climate resilient future.
Key pillars of the campaign: Environmental Justice + Jobs (dollar for dollar, bike and sidewalk construction create more jobs than big highway projects); Environmental Justice + Air Pollution/Asthma (those who live alongside highways are far more likely to be people of color, and suffer from pollution-related asthma); Climate + Induced Demand (added lanes don't relieve gridlock); Fix-it-First (maintenance, not road expansion); Mobility Rights (access for those who don't drive).
Tell us what aspect of the campaign interests you and what skills you bring!
**CURRENT NEEDS: someone to post on social media; policy research; power mapping: researching political donors.
No experience required -- we'll provide trainings and help you learn as we go.