EVERETT — A new bill would create a new program for maintenance of local roads.
House Bill 1098, introduced by Rep. Sam Low, R-Lake Stevens, would require the County Road Administration Board to develop a new program dedicated to improving about 49,000 miles of local roads in Washington.
The program would target counties with a population under 8,000 and focus on underfunded and overburdened local communities. Low emphasized all counties would be eligible for the program under the proposed bill.
The program would cover about a third of local roads in the state. Gas taxes fund main routes, otherwise known as arterial routes, through the County Road Administration Board, Low said in an interview. The problem is all the other roads that aren’t main routes.
“It’s about prioritizing roads,” Low said. “And making sure that in the transportation budget that our rural roads are prioritized just as much as we prioritize our urban roads.
Low said he would be pushing and asking for revenue from the Climate Commitment Act to fund the program. He said that gas taxes have been a “strong” revenue stream for road projects and that he does not want to see taxes raised.
Many communities around the state rely on state and federal grants for routine projects. Sultan, for example, needs grants for just about any project on the town’s roads.
Rep. Dave Paul, D-Oak Harbor, is one of the cosponsors of the bill. He said he feels many county roadways are just as important as state highways, mentioning emergency response as one such example.
Paul said poor road conditions is something he hears about often from constituents.
“I hear the most about ferries, sure, but I do hear a lot about the importance of maintaining and preserving our roads,” Paul said.
It’s a tight transportation budget, Paul said, and rural projects have not received priority. The hope is that the new program would help backfill some of the funding gaps.
He also feels like the legislature’s priorities have changed.
“I’m pleased the legislature is focusing more on maintenance and preservation than they were a decade ago,” Paul said. “Where I think the emphasis was new projects, and now we’re trying to emphasize finishing what we started and then preserving what we’ve what we already have.”
Jordan Hansen: 425-339-3046; jordan.hansen@heraldnet.com; X: @jordyhansen.
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