By Morf Morford, Tacoma Daily Index

Several years ago I wrote a column for another newspaper with the idea of a high speed transit line that ran through Seattle, Tacoma, Olympia and Portland – hence the acronym/name STOP.

The addition of Vancouver, BC would change the name to something closer to V-STOP.

But whatever we call it, a rapid transit line connecting those cities would be a boon to business, travel and cultural interchange.

If you’ve been on I-5 recently, in either direction, you know that, to put it mildly, the main north/south thoroughfare of the North American west coast rarely lives up to our expectations.

A freeway after all, is a “controlled-access” highway, also known as an express highway, that’s designed exclusively for high-speed vehicular traffic.

Traffic flow on a freeway is unhindered because there are no traffic signals, intersections, or at-grade crossings with other roads, railways, or pedestrian paths.

The main difference between freeways and multilane highways is that in the case of freeways, oncoming traffic is separated from the pre-existing flow of traffic and can only be accessed by ramps.

These ramps allow time and space for (relatively gradual) speed changes between the freeway and neighboring arterial thoroughfares and collector roads.

Opposing directions of traffic on a freeway are, in most cases, physically separated by a central median, such as a strip of grass or boulders, or by a traffic barrier. Traffic across a freeway (even for migrating animals in some cases) is allowed thanks to overpasses and underpasses.

In short, a freeway is a dedicated travel platform for individual vehicles of all sizes and purposes. And, in theory at least, travelling at a consistent rate of speed not possible or practical on neighborhood arterials. At least that’s how it is supposed to work.

As most of us know from direct experience, travel on our freeways does not always go as smoothly as intended – or needed.

Freeways are ingenious and essential in many ways. In their proper setting and, when the majority of users follow the (very few) rules, they work reliably, affordably and consistently.

They are premised upon a few simple rules of math and physics; the shortest distance between two points is a straight line and, if everyone is going in the same direction at approximately the same speed, there should be a minimum of collisions.

These conditions allow for fast and reliable individual transportation across much of the world.

As is often the case, what works for the rest of the world does not go exactly as planned on the western slopes of North America.

Our cities are not, like most of the rest of the country, if not the world, on a relatively direct line from each other. We have very little flat and open terrain.

We do have mountain passes, ferries, islands, and communities isolated by rivers, ravines and other aspects of more than two-dimensional geography.

If you look at a map of our state, especially the western half, you can’t help noticing that it is a distorted mélange of bays, inlets, peninsulas, lakes, rivers and bridges and almost every other possible land form, all within a relatively small, and highly developed, geographic area.

Which is why we, far more than most other regions, can least afford to set aside so much of our most limited resource – land – for transportation.

We need to make the best use of our land and could never justify an extreme – and ever-expanding – dedication of our limited right-of-ways to freeways and single-occupancy traffic.

In some areas of the South Sound, for example, freeways are comprised of 6 lanes – in each direction. And even with multiple lanes going in the same direction at close to the same speeds, with minimal cross-traffic interruptions, slow-downs are the rule, not the exception.

Besides that, each additional lane is enormously expensive.

What if, in place of yet another lane of delay-prone traffic, we had some kind of (perhaps) elevated train that, on a frequent schedule, on dedicated line, free from traffic snarls, would take travellers at speeds somehow already easily achieved by much of Europe and Asia, up and down the entire coast?

In mid-September, Washington Governor Jay Inslee, B.C. Premier John Horgan, Oregon Governor Kate Brown and California Governor Gavin Newsom met to discuss sustainable agriculture, higher education, technology, cross-border movement, housing and transportation. A high speed railway that would connect us all, would increase trade, travel and prosperity for the region, was certainly high on their agenda.