It’s great to read that the new ‘Island Home’ ferry will be coming to the Keystone/Port Townsend route. I only wish it was sooner than two years away! But our citizens and elected officials need to be focused on the bigger picture of our transportation needs … to develop a true public waterway transportation network that would offer service to and from Bellingham, Whidbey, Camano, Port Townsend … down to Seattle and Olympia.

Our roads are becoming too congested and we have the wonderful resource of Puget Sound to use for a fleet of foot or smaller car ferries to get us where we need to go. These ferries could be operated by the state or various counties similar to how Skagit operates the ferry to Guemes Island. Locally, Island County would be smart to finally create a ferry to Camano! Perhaps even having a port in Oak Harbor?

It’s my hope that islanders and Puget Sounders make their voices heard to our elected officials to get this overdue ferry system started.

Shawn Warford

Oak Harbor