OLYMPIA—Washington State’s transportation network would receive $8.7 billion in funding under the proposed budget released by the House of Representatives.
“Every family and business in our state relies on our highways, ferries, trains and buses,” said Rep. Judy Clibborn (D-Mercer Island), chair of the House Transportation Committee. “A budget like this is about more than numbers—it’s about giving people more options to get to work or school and getting goods to markets around the world.”
The capital budget portion of the proposal includes:
- $2.6 billion in highway projects
- Completing the I-405 northbound hard-shoulder running project
- Right-of-way purchasing for State Route 167 / State Route 509
- Emergency funds for the Chambers Way Overpass
- New capacity on I-5 from Seneca Street to Olive Way
- $471.35 million for maintenance
- $20 million to fix structurally deficit bridges
- $102.7 million for fish culverts to meet obligations of the Martinez case
- $228.2 million for mass transit, vanpool and commute trip reduction, including $15 million for Alaskan Way Viaduct transit mitigation
- $71.1 million for bicycle, pedestrian and Safe Routes to School
- Completion of the fourth 144-car ferry
- Continued work on the Colman and Mukilteo ferry terminals
- $28 million for a new customer-service center for tolling customers
“The construction side of the transportation budget is important to keep up with our state’s rapidly growing population,” Rep. Clibborn said. “The other half of the budget is the operating side, which is everything from the State Troopers responding to crashes on I-5, the state workers who issue driver’s licenses and the captains who pilot our ferries.”
Highlights of the operating part of the transportation budget include:
- $1.9 million to finish a new State Patrol cadet class, $5.1 million to move the State Patrol out of the unsafe General Administration building and $1.9 million to upgrade information technology for E911 and land-mobile radios
- $1.6 million to operate the fourth 144-car ferry, $1.2 million to use an Evergreen class ferry as a standby vessel and funding to complete a long-range plan, including an estimate for a fifth 144-car ferry
- $19.5 million for Amtrak operations, with two additional round-trips between Portland and Seattle
- $1 million for electric vehicle charging stations built through a public-private partnership
- $500,000 for an analysis of an ultra-high-speed rail alignment between Vancouver, B.C. and Portland, Oregon
- $183 million to fund the collective bargaining agreement for state workers
- $29.8 million in information technology investments for the Department of Licensing and $4.5 million for Licensing to handle enhanced driver’s licenses and the federal REAL ID requirements
A public hearing on the proposed budget was held Monday, March 27.
“Transportation is a bipartisan issue that affects everyone,” Rep. Clibborn said. “I’m confident we can work together, in the House and the Senate, to pass a transportation budget that moves Washington state forward.”