About a week after we wrote about the Washington State Department of Transportation (WSDOT) issuing a manipulative survey to justify making traffic worse – WSDOT officials have taken the survey down.

The survey page is now blank, with just the following message from WSDOT:

 Washington State Department of Transportation has closed the Active Transportation Plan survey to continued comment. Upon further review, we have determined that the way in which a number of questions are stated does not invite objective feedback. As a multimodal agency, we are dedicated to engagement that includes all perspectives, disciplines and backgrounds to inform our work and future outreach related to the Active Transportation Plan will reflect that value. We welcome input from all Washingtonians. You are invited to subscribe to an e-mail list that will let you know about future open houses and other outreach activities to contribute ideas for the plan. You will also be notified when the draft plan is available for review and public comment in late 2019. You can find more information about the Active Transportation Plan at https://bit.ly/WSDOT-2019-ATP.

This is a wise decision. If officials want honest feedback, they need to ask better questions that elicit real commentary.