MUKILTEO — Money long planned to change Mukilteo’s waterfront may be tapped to help Washington State Ferries bring a speedy conclusion to the crisis surrounding its oldest boats.
And that’s fine with Mukilteo Mayor Joe Marine.
Gov. Chris Gregoire on Thursday said she wants the Legislature to siphon $36 million earlier set aside for a new Mukilteo ferry terminal to help pay for construction of new ferries to replace the state’s 80-year-old Steel Electric-class boats.
The Mukilteo ferry terminal project is years behind schedule, and the governor has promised that the money, if used, will be restored when the time comes to start building the terminal, Marine said.
“I understand it’s an emergency situation, and that money may have to be used. I just want to know how it’s going to be replaced, and when,” he said.
Construction on the Mukilteo ferry terminal was expected to start next year and cost up to $156 million. The state already had secured $148 million in state and federal funding.
However, the discovery of the remains of an American Indian village where the terminal was planned to be built and other complications have delayed the project until at least 2011. The new terminal is now expected to cost as much as $310 million.
Known as Mukilteo Landing, the project is envisioned to unite ferry, train and bus services in a single station. It is viewed as a linchpin in the city’s effort to revitalize its downtown waterfront.
The project entails moving the ferry terminal to a former fuel depot on property owned by the U.S. Air Force.
It is up to the Legislature to decide whether the terminal construction money will be moved. If that happens, the Mukilteo terminal project won’t be going away, state Transportation Secretary Paula Hammond said.
She said funding likely would be restored in about two years, during the Legislature’s next budget cycle.
“It was delayed anyway,” she said.
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