TULALIP — On Dec. 18, with rain pouring down, a group of political leaders and government workers gathered in the offices of Quil Ceda Village.
The Tulalip Tribes had brought them together to update them on the 116th Street NE interchange project. The agenda also included the unveiling of the Coast Salish-style artwork that will be included in the project, plus an opportunity to tour the muddy construction site.
But it was also a chance to outline the funding challenges the $70 million project is facing.
“This project will help alleviate traffic challenges and create a better quality of life for all of us,” Tulalip Chairman Mel Sheldon Jr. said to the group.
The new overpass will carry six lanes of travel, plus space for pedestrians and bicycles, and is expected to reduce gridlock at a location where 25,000 vehicles per day get off the freeway, many of them long-haul trucks stopping at Donna’s Travel Plaza just west of the interchange.
The Tulalips kickstarted the project with their own money but have had to rely on other agencies to piece together funding over the past 18 years. About $55 million has been spent or earmarked so far on the project, most of it in the current construction phase.
The final $15 million would pay for more efficient onramps and offramps, with signals and turn lanes wide enough space for trucks to get into Donna’s more easily.
The previous transportation package from the Legislature includes $8 million for the onramps and offramps. But the tribes were loath to start work on that until the final $7 million was in hand, Tulalip transportation manager Debbie Bray said.
A $7 million advance from the 2017-2019 budget would allow crews from Granite Construction to complete the interchange by the summer of 2017, Bray said.
Not having the money lined up would mean incurring more costs, first to remove the construction equipment after the bridge deck is finished, and then to redeploy the equipment when the money becomes available later.
State Sen. Steve Hobbs, of Lake Stevens, went over spreadsheets of the project financing and went back and forth with Bray on some of the details. He asked what would happen if that money weren’t available.
The answer: no new offramps, Bray said. They wouldn’t start work on them until all the money was available.
The only other alternative would be the Tribes dipping into their own pockets for gap funding, with the understanding that the state would ultimately reimburse them from a future transportation package.
The meeting ended with no firm resolution of the financing issue except a promise to try and work something out when the Legislature convenes in January. Then it was out into the rain for the tour.
Chris Winters: 425-374-4165; cwinters@heraldnet.com. Twitter: @Chris_At_Herald.
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