Federal stimulus money could be used to put Nalley Valley Viaduct construction back on track, but it won’t help any of the other state highway projects in Pierce County in danger of being delayed to death.
The revised 2007-09 state transportation budget, which was unveiled Tuesday, would spend $342 million of additional money that Washington got from Congress. Much of the money would be spent on paving and other highway maintenance and safety projects whose contracts can be awarded in as few as 120 days.
House Bill 1978 would spend $70 million of those federal funds on state projects that are ready to go right away, thus freeing up state funds to build the second half of the Nalley Valley Viaduct in Tacoma in 2011-13. Gov. Chris Gregoire had postponed that project, the eastbound bridge, until 2013-15 in her transportation budget.
Rep. Judy Clibborn, D-Mercer Island, chairwoman of the House Transportation Committee, said she and her Senate counterpart, Sen. Mary Margaret Haugen, D-Camano Island, used much of the state’s share of federal economic stimulus money to put highway projects back on the construction schedule the Legislature adopted last year. Gregoire’s proposed transportation budget delayed many projects across the state, but kept the Alaskan Way Viaduct in Seattle, the Highway 520 bridge in King County and other megaprojects on schedule.
The Pierce County legislative delegation also has been pushing to restore funding for car-pool projects on Interstate 5 from Tacoma to Fife and money to buy property along a proposed extension of Highway 167 from the Port of Tacoma to Puyallup. But they will have to have to wait until late March to see whether they have succeeded. That’s when the Legislature will make public its 2009-11 transportation budget, a program that will spend as much as $4 billion over the next two years – 10 times as much as the federal stimulus package.
“I will do my damnedest,” said Rep. Tom Campbell, R-Roy, a member of the House Transportation Committee.
He said getting the second half of the Nalley Valley Viaduct back on track was a victory because otherwise there would have been a two-year gap in construction that might well have become many more years. But it’s just a first step to the overall goal of getting Pierce County its share of transportation dollars that it was promised when its legislators voted in favor of the 9.5-cent gas tax hike in 2005, he said.
“We want the full package,” he said.
The $70 million for Nalley Valley project was the single largest award of money, along with $70 million for two projects for ramp work and interchanges on Interstate 405.
However, many other projects in Pierce County still might be delayed because the state is facing a $500 million shortfall in its next two-year transportation budget.
Gregoire’s budget would reduce the $586 million the Legislature earmarked for car-pool lanes on the rest of I-5 through Tacoma to only $116 million in the 2009-13 horizon. She also would shift $370 million worth of work to 2013-15 and more than $160 million of work beyond 2015. Her transportation adviser said projects scheduled after 2015 are not likely to be built without new revenues.
The governor’s budget proposal also delays $23 million of work on the Yelm bypass on Highway 510 to after 2015, too. Likewise, her budget reduces state spending on the extension of Highway 167 between 2007 and 2013 from $94 million to $21 million. More than $100 million of work would be postponed beyond 2015.
In addition to the $341 million to the state, Congress is giving $151 million of road funding directly to cities and counties, including $97 million to the Puget Sound Regional Council for eventual distribution to projects in Pierce, King, Kitsap and Snohomish counties. There’s also $179 million to local transit agencies.
Clibborn said the $671 million total will create 6,500 jobs.
Washington also has a chance to go after some of the $3 billion the federal government will award through competitive grants, said Rep. Marko Liias, D-Mukilteo, vice chairman of the House Transportation Committee.
The federal funds have a use-it-or-lose-it provision, so if other states don’t spend their share of money fast enough, Washington might get some of theirs, Clibborn said.
Joseph Turner: 253-597-8436
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