Thursday, October 1, 2026
The Thurston Regional Planning Council (TRPC) unanimously approved a new regional vision and goals for high-capacity transportation, establishing a framework to guide future transit planning and land use decisions.
At its meeting on Friday, Sept. 5, TRPC Planners Veronica Jarvis and Michael Mills presented a detailed regional high-capacity transportation vision that features a comprehensive strategy with specific goals and near-term opportunities.
Mills highlighted near-term opportunities, such as creating a high-capacity transportation land-use forum, ensuring rail readiness by engaging with state transportation agencies, incorporating rail alignment studies into legislative agendas, boosting public awareness about current transit options, and investing in multimodal access to improve walking and biking connections to transit facilities.
Jarvis recounted that they presented the vision to the TRPC and the Transportation Policy Board, which demanded actionable strategies to proactively prepare for the future rail infrastructure. She added the focus shifted to how land use plans and comprehensive plans could be strategically modified to create transit-friendly communities.
Thurston County Commissioner Carolina Mejia, one of the voting members of the TRPC, welcomed the decision to tie the next forum to land use planning.
“As we are all going through our comprehensive plans, having that conversation sooner rather than later, especially when it comes to zoning, is very important," Mejia said.
Other members emphasized the importance of regional partnerships.
Chris Stearns, of Thurston's Public Utility District (PUD), pointed to Vancouver, Washington, as an example of the consequences of delaying transit investment.
“When a community rejects transit, there are consequences to that in the future," Stearns said.
Hillary Seidel, of the Olympia School District, agreed with Stearns, urging TRPC to expand future forums to include neighboring counties to avoid future bottlenecks.
With the unanimous vote, the TRPC directed the staff to begin incorporating the near-term opportunities into future work programs as funding and staff capacity allow.
The first land use and transportation forum is expected within the next year, supported by remaining federal dollars from the project’s initial phase.
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JW
Can't wait until we get our version of ST3 and car registration renewals suddenly go to the moon
Tuesday, September 9, 2025 Report this
Quadlok
Yeah, god forbid we pay for things that improve everyone's quality of life.
Tuesday, September 9, 2025 Report this
Southsoundguy
Show me the evidence anyone’s life has been improved?
Tuesday, September 9, 2025 Report this
HarryBranch
Bravo! High speed underwire rail.
Tuesday, September 9, 2025 Report this
mhjwilson
The first thing that should be done is to open the market to the commercial sector so that some innovation can be brought to the market. Curitiba, Brazil, offers an example of a well run system using the commercial sector. https://usa.streetsblog.org/2024/10/17/curitiba-50-years-of-lessons-from-the-worlds-first-bus-rapid-transit
AND THERE IS THIS STUDY https://www.cutr.usf.edu/oldpubs/lessons.htm
Wednesday, September 10, 2025 Report this
Plyro109
My life has been improved by the transit budget increases. I'm disabled, and live on a bus line that recently doubled how often it comes. It's a lot easier to use, and less of a problem if my disability causes me to miss a bus. It's genuinely a great thing. Not to mention the fare removals a few years ago. Maybe try riding the bus a bit more often?
Wednesday, September 10, 2025 Report this
DudeInOlympia
ahh yes, the cries of unendurable suffering from Southsoundguy
Wednesday, September 10, 2025 Report this