OLYMPIA — Mukilteo may get the new ferry terminal it wants and riders between Whidbey Island and Port Townsend may get back the two-ferry service they had.
Funding of both is tucked into a transportation spending plan released Monday by House Democrats.
Also in the proposed budget is money to widen Highway 522 between the Snohomish River and Monroe and another bit of cash for safety improvements on U.S. 2.
The House budget covers $8.3 billion in spending on roads, rail, buses and ferries in the two-year budget beginning July 1. It also pays for operations of the Department of Transportation and the State Patrol.
Of the total, $4.9 billion is designated for 400 projects in the 2009-11 biennium.
With dollars from the federal stimulus package, nearly $5 billion will be spent on roads and transit in the next 28 months, creating an estimated 49,000 jobs, said Rep. Marko Liias, D-Mukilteo, vice chairman of the House Transportation Committee.
Draft transportation budgets are now advancing through the House and the Senate. Once each is approved, a conference committee will reconcile the differences.
One of those areas is the Mukilteo terminal project.
The House provides money to keep designing the $109 million project and preparing for its construction in 2015. The Senate spends a few million dollars less on refurbishing and seismically strengthening existing facilities.
For years, Mukilteo city leaders pushed for a new ferry terminal with holding lanes over the water with the goal of opening up the waterfront in Old Town for new development.
But unstable soil, rising construction costs and a possible archeological discovery of an American Indian site on the beach caused the original price to balloon from $167 million to over $300 million, all but killing the project.
The state intended to build the new terminal where the fuel pier meets the shoreline. Now if it goes forward, it’s likely to be built slightly east or west of its previously planned location but still be tied in to bus service and the Sounder train station.
Washington State Ferries chief David Moseley said he sides with the House plan.
House Democrats, like their Senate peers, include money to build two 64-car Island Home class ferries in the next budget. Both would serve the Keystone-Port Townsend run,
The House budget also keeps the widening of Highway 522 on schedule. The $176.3 million project will enlarge the highway to four lanes between the Snohomish River and the city of Monroe and build a new bridge across the river.
Funds were pledged from the nickel gas tax increase approved in 2003, but the project’s been delayed several times since then. Bids for the project could be sought in December.
The House included $2 million for safety improvements on U.S. 2 from Skykomish to Snohomish and pledged $400,000 to study how to unclog the stretch of the same highway from the Port of Everett to its intersection with Highway 9.
House members did not include $1.5 million for environmental work for a new bridge across the Snohomish River on Highway 9 in Snohomish. That will be up for negotiations.
Jerry Cornfield: 360-352-8623, jcornfield@heraldnet.com.
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