Editorial

It has been two days of quiet from the News Tribune since JBLM put out a press release informing the media they will close Perimeter Road for two months. The military’s plan is to construct better shoulders and to fix cracks and potholes in the well used corridor from Spanaway to Lakewood and I-5.

Perimeter Road is wholly owned by the military base. It has been long known to people working on the Cross Base Highway project that this roadway could simply be shut down by a military command and never reopened. In this case, it will only be closed two months according to current communications. But memories still linger in some of our minds. Many of us from Spanaway commuted to Lakewood and the VA Hospital via Perimeter Road and turning right at Woodbrook Drive. That roadway was gated during the first Gulf War and never reopened. There was a huge brouhaha about it in the press and the County Executive was outspoken in support of reopening the gate.

This year, there has been a concerted effort on the part of the county executive’s office to promote the connection of SR167 from Sumner to Fife. The local cities have been asked to support this single roadway effort as well as the  Chamber of Commerce and Port of Tacoma. The Pierce County Council voted unanimously on a resolution supporting this roadway be part of the legislature’s transportation package this year. The three words “Cross Base Highway” apparently are not to be uttered.

When the 723 Networking group invited the Project Engineer from WSDOT to speak about the Cross Base Highway on March 14, the Chamber actually contacted the group’s leader to ask for singular support for the SR167 project. I am not so sure he got the answer he wanted from a group of business people representing Spanaway. It was like asking us to ignore our leaking roof and fix the roof over Tacoma.

Enter the press release from the military, you heard about it in the Pierce Prairie Post. After two days, there has been no mention of it in the News Tribune. Are they unconcerned or uninterested? Or perhaps, we might suspect, they are playing their role in political hardball in favor of the SR167 project.

The Post received a phone call from Representative Hans Zeiger after making some legislative contacts about the Perimeter Road closure. He was reassuring that the Pierce County legislative caucus will not forget the Cross Base Highway. But he did say they are trying to get the entire funding for SR167 this year so the project can be completed in one fell swoop. “Next year,” he said, “We will come back and ask for the money to finish the Cross Base.”

Just a few hours after contacting legislators about Perimeter Road, the Chamber put out a press release in their newsletter, “The Live Wire.” The letter included the unanimous resolution of the County Council in support of SR167. I suspect they’ll never say one peep about Perimeter Road… or the needs of the 228,000 folks out here in what they think are hinterlands. Did I mention according to the 2010 census there are more of us out here south of SR512 than there are Tacomans?

So for the record… Cross Base Highway, Cross Base Highway, Cross Base Highway, SR704!  I hope the News Tribune covers it someday.

Dedicated to Graham, Frederickson, South Hill, Orting, Spanaway, Elk Plain and Roy who need a better commute to work.