Harger: Revive I-5 runs into the 2030s. Trump and Democrats could fix that, and put a generation to work in the trades

Yesterday, I spent some time on what Tuesday’s election came down to. Voters rejected the direction of the last two years. They’re tired of the corruption, and they’re tired of an economy that keeps leaving them behind.

They’re sick of it. So they turned to Democrats. Not because they fell in love with the party, but because they want solutions.

They’re probably also tired of blowhards in the media who complain about everything and never propose a fix. I’ve been guilty of that myself.

So I’m going to try something different. For the next two commentaries, I’m laying out ideas that could make long-lasting improvements to the economy and to everyone’s quality of life. They’re ideas I think Democrats and the president could both get behind.

I’m spitballing here. I’m sure there are plenty of obstacles in the way and the costs would be enormous, but I think it’s worthwhile to start a conversation about the path forward.

Call it economic populism: good jobs, homes people can afford, lower bills. President Trump built his political brand on it. Democrats say lowering costs for families is their top priority. That’s a lot of overlap.

And Trump says he’s open to it. “I don’t want to be just sitting there for two years vetoing everything,” he told Politico. On election night, he said, “We’re gonna work with the Democrats to make sure things go well for our country, very important.”

OK, Mr. President. Let’s see it. Today: our roads, and the people who build them.

Revive I-5 runs into the 2030s. SR 18 runs to 2036

Seventy years ago, President Dwight Eisenhower signed the law that created the interstate highway system.

The American Society of Civil Engineers gave the nation’s roads a D+ in its 2025 report card. Bad roads and congestion cost the average driver about $1,400 a year.

Washington is further behind than most. In 2024, about 40% of our state highway lane miles were due or overdue for paving. WSDOT paved 670 miles. One of the agency’s own directors said, “We are in the early stages of critical failure due to lack of funding.”

You’ve lived it. The Seattle stretch of I-5 was built in the 1960s to last about 25 years. Revive I-5, WSDOT’s fix, is dozens of projects that will run into the 2030s. The Ship Canal Bridge alone takes most of this year for northbound lanes, then most of next year for southbound.

Out on SR 18, widening just over 2 miles near I-90 started in 2023. It took three years to complete.

Then comes the deadly stretch over Tiger Mountain. From 2008 to 2021, it saw more than 400 collisions, six deaths, and more than 170 injuries. WSDOT plans to widen about 5 miles of it to four lanes. Design started in 2018. Construction won’t start until 2031, and the road isn’t scheduled to be finished until fall 2036.

Eighteen years, start to finish, for 5 miles of road.

It doesn’t have to be this way.

In 2011, Utah built a 354-foot bridge in a field next to I-15, then rolled it into place on giant remote-controlled transporters. It took about five hours, overnight.

In 2016, the Dutch closed their A12 highway for one weekend, slid a prefabricated 230-foot tunnel underneath it, rebuilt the road on top with an extra lane, and reopened it for the Monday commute. Watch the time-lapse.

In 2023, a tanker fire collapsed part of I-95 in Philadelphia. Crews worked around the clock, the federal government promised to pay, and the freeway reopened in 12 days, according to Bloomberg.

So think big. Push the accelerator to the floor. What if the next phase of Revive I-5 took months instead of years? What if Tiger Mountain got widened in a year or two instead of a decade?
WSDOT’s own people say the problem is money. So give them the money, enough to pay for speed, along with a mandate to go full throttle.

It takes crews working around the clock. WSDOT already closes I-5 for full weekends to set up its work zones, then spends months working behind lane closures. Spend more, staff up, and build more of it off-site, and those months become weeks.

Weeks of serious pain, I’ll grant you. Shutting down big chunks of I-5 through Seattle, even for a few weeks, would be brutal. But it beats years of grinding pain that runs into the 2030s.

It takes contracts that pay a bonus for finishing early and charge a penalty for every day late. And it takes permits in months, not years. Streamline the reviews, put a shot clock on approvals, and let crews get to work. Conservatives have wanted that for decades, and plenty of Democrats now want it too.

Then go beyond the freeways. Modernize airports. Improve passenger and freight rail. Help ports like Tacoma and Seattle get more trucks and cargo moving faster.

Trump loves telling the story of Wollman Rink. In 1986, New York City had spent about six years trying to rebuild the Central Park ice rink and was $12 million over budget. Trump took it over and opened it in about four and a half months, under budget. He’s said fixing that rink was “really no different” than fixing roads and bridges.

Great. Prove it. An ice rink is one thing. Rebuilding America’s freeways, airports, and rail lines at Dutch speed is a job on a scale no president has tried since Eisenhower.

One condition. Voters just told us corruption is their top worry. Every dollar gets posted publicly, every contract, every deadline. Fast and accountable, or it doesn’t fly.

Who’s going to build it? The trades

A rebuild this big needs an army of skilled workers. Right now, 92% of construction firms say they’re struggling to hire, according to industry surveys.

And roads are only the start. The trades build almost everything we depend on.

The electrician wiring a new home project in Buckley. The lineworker getting your power back on after a windstorm. The plumber at your door when the water heater goes at 6 a.m. The HVAC tech who keeps the heat pump running. The welder at the shipyard in Bremerton. The carpenters and framers putting up the homes this region is desperate for. The elevator mechanic, the pipefitter, the ironworker 30 stories up.

The work is hard, it takes real math and real smarts, and it pays. In Washington, people who finish a registered apprenticeship make a median of $94,900 a year. They get paid while they learn. No student loans.

And it’s work AI can’t take. AI can write an email. It can’t rewire the panel in a 1960s rambler in Renton or set a bridge girder at 2 a.m.

So build the pipeline. Start with how we score schools. Federal law requires states to test students every year in grades three through eight and once in high school, against a one-size-fits-all standard. What if we re-imagined that?

Give students with an aptitude for the trades a real program, starting in high school. Rigorous and well rounded, with serious shop classes, credentials, and paid work experience. Unions and employers help design it and commit actual apprenticeship slots.

A kid walks across the graduation stage on Friday and starts a paid apprenticeship on Monday.

Then go further. Offer all Americans one or two years of low- or no-cost trades training at community colleges, built to feed apprenticeships. Put employers and unions at the table, and publish how many graduates get hired.

A deal for everybody

Democrats get union jobs, better transit and rail, and a fair shot at a good career for kids without connections in the trades. Trump’s base gets an American building program it can see, faster permits, and a thriving blue-collar workforce without four years of college debt.

And the rest of us get home sooner.

Mr. President, you say you don’t want to spend two years vetoing everything. Good. Then don’t.

Time to think big.