OLYMPIA — Gov. Chris Gregoire signed a transportation budget Tuesday with money for a new bridge over Ebey Slough, concrete barriers on I-5 in Marysville and work on finding a solution to traffic flow out of the Frontier Village shopping center in Lake Stevens.
The budget covers $8.6 billion in spending from July 1, 2009, through June 30, 2011, which is roughly $1 billion more than what the governor signed last year. Most of the increase is from new federal dollars for rail projects.
Overall, funding is unchanged for 15 major projects that are either under way or will begin in the next year in Snohomish County.
These include erecting a fixed-span bridge over Ebey Slough to replace the existing swing bridge on Highway 529; building a ramp to separate merging traffic at I-5, I-405 and Highway 525; finishing installation of concrete barriers in the median of northbound I-5 between Marysville and Arlington; constructing a new ramp from eastbound Highway 522 to eastbound U.S. 2; and widening Highway 9 between Lundeen Parkway and Highway 92 in Lake Stevens.
This year, Gregoire and the Legislature added $500,000 to get the state Department of Transportation started on designing improvements to the intersection of Highway 9 and Highway 204 in Lake Stevens in front of the Frontier Village shopping center.
They also set aside money to hire a few extra workers at the Mukilteo ferry terminal where new holding lanes that were added a year ago have led to more vehicles needing direction before and during loading.
This budget also patches a $38 million hole in Washington State Ferries’ fuel budget with a transfer of money away from road maintenance and preservation reserves.
Gregoire originally called for imposing a fuel surcharge on ferry fares starting May 1, but lawmakers disagreed and delayed any surcharge until next year.
The budget also provides $3.6 million for training a new class of Washington State Patrol troopers.
The entire budget can be read online at http://leap.leg.wa.gov.
Jerry Cornfield: 360-352-8623, jcornfield@heraldnet.com.
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