From the Kitsap Sun

$7.5 Billion Transportation Budget Has $300 Million for New Ferries

The state Legislature passed a $7.5 billion transportation budget Saturday, including money for new ferries, statewide road paving, and some financing to replace the aging Alaskan Way Viaduct in Seattle.

The Senate gave the transportation plan final approval Saturday night with a 41-8 vote. The House approved the measure earlier in the day. Gov. Chris Gregoire has the final say.

Many of the road projects included in the budget will begin this summer and are part of the plan to spend about $5 billion on what lawmakers are calling the state's most ambitious construction season, creating 49,000 jobs.

Also Saturday, lawmakers approved the state's main, $35 billion operating budget. The Senate still must approve the state construction budget — the last of the three major spending plans laid out by government every two years. That vote is expected Sunday, the last scheduled day of the 2009 Legislature.

Using a combination of $372 million in federal stimulus money and revenue from the state's gas tax, the proposed transportation budget provides money for more than 400 projects statewide, lawmakers said. Still, some 18 projects had to be delayed or shelved because state gas tax revenue is shrinking.

The budget includes a portion of the $2.4 billion the state has set aside for the multi-year replacement of the Alaskan Way Viaduct in Seattle. The budget also pays the 2009-2011 share of an estimated $2.6 billion for replacing the State Route 520 floating bridge across Lake Washington.

Also set aside in the budget was nearly $300 million for new ferry construction.

Also Saturday, the House, on a 52-43 vote, concurred with the Senate on a bill approving a plan to toll drivers crossing the State Route 520 floating bridge across Lake Washington in King County. Tolls would be collected before construction of a replacement for the aging structure, which is vulnerable to earthquakes and rough weather. The measure now goes to Gregoire.

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