SEATTLE — Gov. Chris Gregoire today said it makes no sense to continue spending money trying to save Washington’s oldest ferries.
Instead, she will ask the state Legislature in January to approve shifting $100 million among ferry system projects to pay for construction of three new ferries that will serve as replacements to the 80-year-old Steel Electric-class ferries.
Gregoire also said an agreement has been worked out with Pierce County to rent a car ferry that will swiftly restore service on the Keystone-to-Port Townsend run. She said car-ferry service should resume on the route soon, perhaps as early as January.
Gregoire said she knows the decision to tie up the Steel Electrics has created problems, but it was the right call because the aged boats simply are no longer safe.
“As difficult as it has been, imagine, just imagine, what might have been the consequences if they had not been removed and a tragedy had occurred,” Gregoire said.
The governor made the announcements at a Seattle shipyard where two of the Steel Electrics — the Quinault and Illahee — are in dry dock undergoing repairs. Her comments came before signing contracts for the construction of three new 144-car ferries, which are expected to serve other routes, including Mukilteo.
State Transportation Secretary Paula Hammond on Nov. 20 ordered the Steel Electrics ferries tied up, citing concerns over their hulls, which in places still contain 1927-vintage steel plates. The decision severed a key transportation link between Keystone on Whidbey Island and Port Townsend on the Olympic Peninsula.
The state has been negotiating terms of the contract with a consortium shipbuilders, including Todd Pacific Shipyards, J.M. Martinac Shipbuilding Corp. of Tacoma, and Nichols Bros. Boat Builders of Freeland on Whidbey Island.
Money to build three new boats to replace the Steel Electric ferries will come from shifting $36 million in funding for planned improvements to ferry terminals, including a key project in Mukilteo. Another $64 million would be shifted from the $348 million already set aside to build the 144-car ferries, Gregoire said.
The new plan will be to build three of the larger ferries, not four, she said.
Gregoire said the three smaller ferries will be Steilacoom II-class vessels, a design that Nichols Bros. has built twice; boats that are now in use in Pierce County’s ferry system.
Pierce County officials have agreed to loan the state one of those boats to help restore car-ferry service to Port Townsend while new vessels are being built, Gregoire said. Service could resume in about a month, she said, once modifications are made to the Pierce County boat. Some had speculated the route would remain closed a year or more.
The prospect of getting car-ferry service restored swiftly was great news in Port Townsend, which has struggled because of lost ferry service.
“Losing the boat has created a lot of problems in terms of our regular commuters and our business community,” Port Townsend Mayor Mark Welch said. “Having car service certainly will revitalize that and get us back to our status quo. I couldn’t anticipate a better outcome other than a new boat. This is certainly as good as we can expect. I’m very pleased.”
Welch was also excited over Gregoire’s decision to build three new boats to replace the Steel Electrics.
“This is as good of news as we could have hoped for,” he said.
And to put a bow on it: The ferry system this afternoon will be running a passenger-only route from Port Townsend to Seattle, a trip that backers say should bring holiday shoppers to Port Townsend.
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