OLYMPIA—A busload of state transportation leaders will be rolling into Yakima on June 15 to visit project sites and hear about top-priority local needs firsthand.
The Democratic and Republican transportation leaders in the Legislature will be joined by Secretary of Transportation Paula Hammond and numerous other state and local officials.
“We’re coming to Yakima, Walla Walla and the Tri-Cities as part of a fresh approach to transportation planning that emphasizes listening to local needs in every region with open minds and a bipartisan spirit,” said Rep. Judy Clibborn (D-Mercer Island), who chairs the House Transportation Committee and is this year’s presiding co-chair of the Joint Transportation Committee (JTC).
The tour is the first in a series of visits that lawmakers will make this year for a close-up view of transportation progress and priorities across Washington.
The visit builds on a 2010 outreach effort that called on the Yakima Valley Conference of Governments (YVCOG) and Washington’s 13 other regional transportation planning organizations to identify preservation needs and up to 20 top-priority projects.
“There’s no substitute for local interaction,” said Sen. Mary Margaret Haugen (D-Camano Island). “The strength of local support from community officials and organizations often plays a pivotal role in whether the state approves a particular project. No one knows what’s needed in a project better than the very people who will be most affected by it.”
Haugen chairs the Senate Transportation Committee and co-chairs the JTC.
The Yakima County area faces $295 million in preservation needs over the next decade and more than $1.8 billion in unfunded top 20 project needs, according to the YVCOG report for the regional needs study.
Lawmakers on the trip will visit a number of projects in the greater Yakima area, including unfunded Top 20 projects such as the I-82 Gateway Corridor project in Yakima, the I-82/South Union Gap interchange improvements project, the proposed interchange for US 12 and Old Naches Highway, the US 97 safety corridor project from Union Gap to Toppenish, North First Revitalization in Yakima, and several other projects across the region, as time allows.
“This is a great opportunity for Yakima and the other areas we’ll be visiting,” said Sen. Curtis King (R-Yakima), the leading Republican on the Senate Transportation Committee. “This is each community’s chance to make its voices heard and its needs understood by the officials who will make the ultimate calls on which projects will move forward.”
The visit includes drive-to project briefings and a working lunch with local officials spotlighting transportation needs in Yakima County.
“This bus trip is a lot like the new transportation budget,” said Rep. Mike Armstrong (R-Wenatchee), the leading Republican on the House Transportation Committee. “It wasn’t easy writing a bipartisan budget we could all be proud of in tough economic times, but we did it and now we need to keep the momentum moving forward, because there are still big challenges ahead.”