The transportation revenue package passed by the Legislature includes funds to improve freight mobility near Paine Field, upgrade SR 99 in Edmonds, replace the Mukilteo ferry terminal, and add a bus rapid transit line Canyon Park to Boeing’s Everett plant, Sen. Marko Liias, D-Lynnwood, announced today.
The package also authorizes full tax funding capacity for Sound Transit 3 and provides 1-to-1 multi-modal funding for road projects, Liias said.
“For my constituents, the average commute time has gone up 18 minutes every day in just three years. That’s 18 minutes of not being home with their kids, not being there to tuck their little ones in at night, not making dinner for their kids when they get home,” he said. “This package will help all the people who want to walk their kids to school but can’t for lack of a sidewalk, the folks who want to ride a bike to work because they like the exercise but can’t because there isn’t a bike path. This makes the investments we need to build the communities we all want.”
For example, the additional rapid bus line is projected to start out carrying 3,300 riders a day and complete the 12.5-mile trip in about 40 minutes, Liias said.
“This bill and package represent a triumph of bipartisanship,” Liias said. “In our politics today, we have this sense that things are broken, that we can’t solve problems anymore. When we look at Washington DC, we see that problem. But here in Washington state, we are showing that we can solve problems by working together across the aisle, across this state, making a difference in rural and urban communities.”
The overall $31 billion revenue package will create 100,000 jobs and complete major state projects along SR 520 and SR 167 and other regional bottlenecks, said Liias, who helped negotiate the package as the deputy ranking member on the Senate Transportation Committee.
