Each day, Tom Myers commutes to work from a suburb east of Seattle. Thirteen years ago, when he moved to his present house, the drive took 30 minutes. But in the past decade hundreds of new neighbours have started to clog roads originally laid out for a farming community. Now it takes close to two hours. Mr Myers is one of thousands of motorists in Washington state who are increasingly vexed by its inadequate roads, decaying bridges, rusting ferries and barely visible public-transport system. Transport engineers have big plans to put everything right-new lanes along interstate freeways, widened bridges, new trains and more. But these will cost billions of dollars. And money does not grow on trees in Washington state. (If it did, there would certainly be no shortage.) Three years ago, the voters approved a cut in vehicle-licensing fees that gutted the state's ability to raise cash for transport. So the politicians are now asking voters like Mr Myers to relent a little. Perhaps they would not mind paying a slightly-higher petrol tax?
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