Ideological blinders have long prevented the Puget Sound region from confronting the seriousness of its transportation problems. In this month's cover story, Washington CEO Magazine senior writer Aaron Corvin guides us through the complexities of an issue the region's voters will face in November, when they decide whether to support a measure to raise $17.8 billion for improved roads and mass transit.

The measure has already drawn criticism from both environmental groups and conservatives. The Sierra Club, for example, argues that expansion of road capacity will only draw more cars on the road, adding more carbon dioxide to the atmosphere and contributing to global warming.

Many conservatives, by contrast, complain that the light rail projects envisioned in the proposal would cost too much money given the tiny percentage of commuters they are projected to carry. Passengers, these critics point out, could simply be given more than $100,000 each to take the bus. Both arguments are compelling, but short-sighted. We need both roads and rail to address the morass in which we find ourselves today ? a situation in which traffic jams are exacting a heavy toll on our economy, our environment and our time.

We must give credit to mainstream environmental and business groups for coming together to tackle this issue. There is a clear need for money to replace or fix failing bridges and highways and to address critical bottlenecks. And while light rail ridership will certainly be disappointing in the early years, there is no real alternative for transporting large numbers of people in a rapidly growing region.

The BART light rail system in the Bay Area faced similar ridership issues when it was launched in the early 1970s. Today, the system carries 380,000 passengers each day.

Have the trains reduced traffic? No, of course not. But if BART did not exist today, there would be complete gridlock in the area. It is hard to imagine that the region could have remained the nation's center of innovation.

Even if the November ballot passes, much more needs to be done. As we have discussed in past issues of Washington CEO, we need congestion pricing, the use of tolls to discourage driving on the most crowded roads at the most crowded times. We also need a strong regional organization capable of implementing long-term transportation plans in a way that meshes with our land use planning.

If we want the state, and its economic driver, the Puget Sound, to remain strong, we must attack the problem from every perspective: That means roads, mass transit, congestion pricing and better planning. The package on the November ballot may look expensive, but the cost of doing nothing is far higher.