No funds for extra SR 17 expansion

State budget focuses on Seattle

OLYMPIA —Two area representatives are disappointed about a recent defeat of an amendment to a proposed $7.4 billion 2007 transportation budget for the state.

Rep. Judy Warnick, R- Moses Lake, and Rep. Bill Hinkle, R-Cle Elum, sought an amendment to accelerate funding for several projects, including the widening of state Route 17 between Ephrata and Moses Lake.

House Amendment 466 would have created the "One Washington Road Fund," Hinkle and Warnick said.

The amendment was defeated on a voice vote.

"We tried to make the House transportation budget more representative of the entire state, including our area, but in the end it focused too much on the Puget Sound region," Hinkle said. "There are tremendous safety issues that need be addressed, not only with the Alaskan Way Viaduct, but highway 17 and other roadways in the state."

"This would have provided new money for five major projects in all corners in the state," Warnick said. "The One Washington Road Fund would appropriate $1 billion to move up construction for these projects, including highway 17 in Grant County."

The amendment would have funded the projects by using state sales and use taxes from highway construction projects, Warnick added.

The fund would also have provided money for construction of the North-South Freeway in Spokane, the Columbia River Crossing, U.S. Highway 2 interchange and highway improvements in Whatcom and Skagit counties.

Warnick said funding for SR 17 was promised in the last biennial budget and supported by the former 13th District legislators.

"Widening of highway 17 is vitally important to safety and the economy of Central Washington," she said. "We need to move the widening of this roadway beyond the study phase."

"We have significant infrastructure pressures with the economic growth coming to Kittitas and Grant counties, but they are not recognized in the House transportation budget," Hinkle said. "The 13th District is growing economically and in population, and we need the transportation infrastructure in place to accommodate both."

The 13th District lawmakers said they would continue looking for ways to move the state Route 17 project higher on the state transportation construction list.

—Staff report