Cascadia Center—helmed by visionary thinker Agnew—has proven an independent voice for regional transportation policy

Bruce Agnew [Executive Director, Cascadia Center]

In green, transportation-obsessed Seattle, it’s a little surprising to learn that an arm of conservative think tank Discovery Institute is one of the region’s most influential groups. But funded by a $10 million, 10-year grant from the Gates Foundation, Cascadia Center—helmed by visionary thinker Agnew—has proven an independent voice for regional transportation policy, often steering a course between radical bike advocates and highway-fixated suburban conservatives. 

In 2009, a number of Cascadia’s major initiatives moved into transportation’s fast lane. It was Cascadia that pushed for the deep-bore tunnel as a technically feasible solution to Seattle’s Alaskan Way Viaduct replacement conundrum; and for improved, and eventually high-speed, rail service from Eugene, Oregon, to Vancouver, British Columbia, a project now on the Obama administration’s radar. Cascadia also touted road tolling and congestion pricing as ways to raise revenues and reduce traffic, a course now widely embraced by transportation planners.

Agnew, a former chief of staff for onetime Seattle Republican Congressman John Miller, is also a passionate advocate for more private-sector involvement in transportation (he calls Microsoft’s Connector bus service “the best transit system in North America”). Private investment, he says, could provide vital funding for major projects like a new SR 520 bridge and a Columbia River crossing. Public-private partnerships could also stimulate technological innovation. “Look,” the voluble Agnew enthuses, “my Blackberry does everything.” Can we say the same for our transportation system?