Mukilteo ferry riders to see two new boats

Published 9:00 pm Tuesday, August 8, 2006

MUKILTEO – The Cat and the Kitty’s days on the Mukilteo-Clinton ferry run are numbered.

The state is building two new boats to serve the busy run to south Whidbey Island, which means the Cathlamet and Kittitas, nicknamed the Cat and the Kitty, will be sent to other state ferry routes.

The new ferries will be Issaquah 130s, the same class of ferry as the Cathlamet and Kittitas, but bigger.

The state Legislature earlier this year approved $321 million to build four new ferries, said Steve Reinmuth, government relations director for the state Department of Transportation. The other two new ferries will be assigned to the Seattle-Bremerton and San Juan Island routes.

The first new Mukilteo-Clinton ferry is scheduled to start service in 2009, the second in 2010.

Construction on the first boat starts in 2008 and will take place at one of three area boat-building facilities in the running to get the boat-building contract.

The size, speed and shape of the new ferries are already set, but the amenities and services are not.

Will hot dogs be sold?

How wide will the seats be?

Will there be trough urinals in the men’s room?

That will be up to the builder that gets the contract to build the boats, Reinmuth said.

“The ferry system has spent several months developing technical specifications for these boats,” he said. “Now that that part is done, we turn it over to the builders to actually design the boats.”

The new ferries will carry 144 cars, 14 more than the current class of Issaquah 130s, said Ray Deardorf, planning director for Washington State Ferries. They will carry up to 1,500 passengers, up from the 1,200 the current boats carry. The boats will also be 36 feet longer and 5 feet wider.

The extra room will be used to build wider lanes for the many trucks that cross over to south Whidbey Island, Deardorf said. Scooting cars to the upper deck will be easier because the ramps will not be as steep.

The new ferries will be quieter, faster and more fuel-efficient, Deardorf said.

The Cathlamet and Kittitas will be assigned to new routes, starting a chain reaction of reassignments that will allow some of the state’s oldest ferries to be retired, said Celia Schorr, a spokeswoman for the ferry system.

“The old Steel Electrics will be retired,” she said. “We don’t know what we’re going to do with them. They’re beautiful old vessels. I’m sure a lot of people will want them.”

The Steel Electric-class boats, first built in the late 1920s, include the Ilahee, Klickitat, Nisqually and Quinault.

The new ferries will start service at about the same time Mukilteo gets a new ferry terminal. Construction on a new two-slip terminal is scheduled to start in 2008 and finish in 2010.

Reporter Lukas Velush: 425-339-3449 or lvelush@ heraldnet.com.