Scott over at the SeattlePI.com has picked up the transportation earmark bill that is currently moving forward at the federal level.
A full list of the appropriations is linked on the WSDOT Blog here .
Reading through the list I'll pull out a few projects that are great, not so great, and others that raise some questions.
The good news:
Patty Murray and the rest of our delegation delivered on federal commitment to transit and multi-modal access in the Puget Sound Region.
- $9.3 for Metro's RapidRide between Belleuve and Redmond
- $110 for University Link expansion
- $1.8 Million for new C-Tran buses
- $1.7 Million for new Intercity Transit buses
- $2.4 Million for Link Transit buses
- $1.2 Million for Pierce Transit diesel hybrid buses
- $1.2 Million for Spokane Transit hybrid buses
- $600,000 for hybrid buses for the West Seattle RapidRide
- $974,00 for Whatcom Transportation buses
- $1.7 Million for alternatives analysis for High Capacity Transit in the Columbia River Crossing Corridor.
- $1.4 Puyallup BRT Alternatives Analysis
- $360,000 for SE King County Commuter Rail Study; more on seattle transit blog
- $730,00 for Whatcom Smart Trips, their Commute Trip Reduction program
- $800,000 for pedestrian oriented streetscape improvements in Downtown Tacoma
- $1.9 Million for Fishlake trail in Spokane, I have never been there but is sounds good.
Not as exciting projects:
- US 395 North Spokane Corridor-this new freeway has long been a priority of Eastern Washington Legislatures so no surprise here but still it is a huge general purpose lane expansion project.
- US 12 Phase 7 Burbank to Walla Walla is widening a state highway from 2 general purpose lanes to 4, which is always fun.
Needs more investigation:
-There is $974,000 dollars for a "Tacoma Intermodal Transit Center", which sounds good in theory, but I think that may be code speak for money for more city owned large parking garages on the edge of the downtown.
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This is wrong. No federal money should be used for our local projects. If we cannot fund our projects locially we do not deserve them. I feel that way about all earmarks for any state.
ReplyDeleteaw dang it, I hope the Intermodal Transit Center does not mean more parking.
ReplyDeleteI think the Tacoma Intermodal Transit Center means moving the Amtrak Station to Freighthouse Square with the Sounder Station and Greyhound, but the money is specifically for the "Tacoma Intermodal Transit Center *and Parking Facility*", so I think they're planning to construct a parking garage there.
ReplyDeleteI found a hose throw costa rica homes for sale and I can´t wait more time to go there. But I never went before. So is important to me to know about the transportation in the country which is vey beautiful. How ever, I heard the transportations is really good.
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