Marr: House transportation budget solves shortfall, keeps freeway on schedule

OLYMPIA — Construction of the North/South Freeway will continue as scheduled, thanks to a shifting of funds in the transportation budget released Monday by the House of Representatives.

“This is great news for anyone who needs to travel through our city,” said Sen. Chris Marr, D-Spokane, vice chair of the Senate Transportation Committee. “The House budget writers made up a massive funding shortage in a way that will save taxpayers millions.”

Marr said the problems were two-fold — unexpected inflation has escalated the cost of the freeway, and the Category C funds from which the freeway has been funded is not generating money fast enough to keep up with the freeway construction schedule.

The solution was simple but effective: House leaders made up a $122 million shortage in North/South Freeway funds by shifting money from projects in the ’03 Nickel Package and the ’05 Transportation Partnership Package that are not scheduled for construction for several years. By the time those projects will be built, enough Category C funds will have been generated to replace the money shifted from the Nickel and TPP accounts.

“This shifts money we have in hand to projects we need to build now, and it lets us pay for projects to be built later with money that will come in later,” Marr said. “This simply distributes the money in a way that makes sure our projects receive funding as soon as they need it.”

Relying on Category C funds would have delayed construction and increased the cost of the freeway through inflation and construction inefficiencies, Marr said.

“There aren’t enough Category C funds to build the freeway in complete phases, such as a complete widening project or a complete bridge project,” he said. “If you can’t build a bridge — or complete a segment of road — on a tight construction schedule, the cost of each phase multiplies.”

Among other things, the proposed $7.4 billion House transportation budget:

• maintains all funding commitments for the 432 projects funded in the 2003 and 2005 transportation packages;
• freezes ferry fare increases at 2.5 percent, instead of the Transportation Commission’s recommended 4 percent; and
• provides for half-priced tolls of $1.50 for transponder users for the first year of the new Tacoma Narrows Bridge.

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