News for Transportation
$15B transportation package takes big step in Senate
The $15 billion transportation package took a big step forward yesterday when the Senate voted out two of three funding measures. Late last week the Senate voted out all eight transportation-reform bills.
The bill that includes the 11.7-cent gas-tax increase and other funding measures SSB 5987 p...
Posted on: 03/03/2015
WSDOT implements reforms for a more efficient, effective agency
By Secretary of Transportation Lynn Peterson
Editor’s note: With a transportation-funding package being debated in Olympia the issue of reforms regarding how transportation dollars are spent is front and center. We asked WSDOT Sec. Lynn Peterson (photo) to describe the steps that WSDOT has alre...
Posted on: 03/02/2015
AGC issues transportation-package action alert
AGC has issued an action alert to urge State Senate members to support the proposed $15B transportation-funding package. This package is comprised of eleven bills that include a number of critical state projects. The Senate is likely to vote on the package Thursday or Friday of this week. Click h...
Posted on: 02/24/2015
Senate Transportation leaders unveil $15B funding and reform package
Construction of the SR 167/SR 509 Gateway I-5 JBLM corridor improvements and I-82 Yakima to Union Gap improvements are among the 104 projects that would be constructed via a $15 billion transportation package introduced last week in the State Senate. Funded primarily through a phased-in 11.7 cent...
Posted on: 02/16/2015
AGC-WSDOT Administrative and Environmental Excellence award winners
Granite Construction Guy F. Atkinson KLB Construction West Company and Spokane Products were among those honored for administrative and environmental excellence by WSDOT and AGC of Washington. Awards were presented at the AGC-WSDOT annual meeting January 8 in Tacoma.
Partnership for Excellence i...
Posted on: 01/17/2015
Right ways and wrong ways to fund transportation
One of AGCs top legislative priorities is passage of a comprehensive transportation package to address congestion unmet preservation and maintenance needs and freight mobility.
One of the big questions is how to pay for a package. Governor Inslee recently introduced a carbon cap-and-trade mechan...
Posted on: 01/17/2015
New fiscal year, same old highway trust-fund problems
With October 1 marking the beginning of fiscal year 2015 the 31-member organization Transportation Construction Coalition (TCC) urged Congress to find a way to pay for and pass a new long-term surface transportation measure as soon as possible. They cautioned that failure to act would lead to ano...
Posted on: 10/13/2014
WSDOT prepares for federal funding shortfall
Although Congress has failed to pass a long-term federal highway bill the U.S. House recently took another shot at it as last week it approved by a vote of 367 to 55 H.R. 5021 a $10.8 billion Highway Trust Fund patch which provides sufficient revenue to maintain current funding levels through May...
Posted on: 07/18/2014
Report highlights need for rural road improvement
In 2012 22 percent of Washington’s major rural roads were rated in poor condition -- the 12th-highest rate nationally.This is one of the findings of a recently released report Rural Connections: Challenges and Opportunities in America’s Heartland by national transportation research group TRIP. Th...
Posted on: 07/18/2014
Transportation and the Governor's climate executive order: Your thoughts?
Gov. Inslee’s recent Executive Order regarding climate change has received a lot of attention most of it focused on his plans for a carbon cap-and-trade program. However there are several other elements to the Executive Order (full copy here) that could impact the construction industry including ...
Posted on: 05/23/2014
Report confirms the loss of transportation funds to compact
$30 million a year is being siphoned out of gas-tax funded transportation construction by a questionable compact that Washington State entered into with the Tribes in 2007 concludes a report by former Washington State Auditor Brian Sonntag.
In 2007 the Legislature passed a bill authorizing the G...
Posted on: 04/28/2014
Milestone for PCL Civil's Sound Transit project
The PCL Civil Constructors construction team for the Sound Transit South 200th Link Extension project was visited by Sound Transit staff members of the congressional delegation Washington State and local officials and the media on April 9th.
The start of the guideway erection at Sound Transits...
Posted on: 04/15/2014
Nearly half of highway contractors experience work zone crashes
Last week was National Work Zone Safety Awareness Week bringing attention to safety in work zones for both motorists and workers. WSDOT hosted an event on April 8 at the SR 99/new South Atlantic Street Overpass which included the annual Worker Memorial tribute.
A focus on highway work zone safet...
Posted on: 04/14/2014
Rep. Larsen talks workforce, transportation with AGC
AGC members Brett Ferullo (Northwest Construction) Chuck Lutrell (Dawson Construction) and AGC Northern District Manager Liz Evans recently had the opportunity to sit down with Congressman Rick Larsen (photo) for a conversation on various issues affecting the construction industry and Washington ...
Posted on: 03/17/2014
U.S. DOT likely to delay reimbursements this summer
AGC of America reports that last week committees in the Senate and the House heard from U.S. Secretary of Transportation Anthony Foxx and other Department officials about their FY 2015 budget submission MAP-21 reauthorization and how they intend to administer highway and transit programs consider...
Posted on: 03/17/2014
ACT NOW: With the clock running down, full-court press on transportation package
With the clock running down in the 2014 state legislative session AGC and others are putting on a full-court press to secure passage of a comprehensive transportation package.
AGC members are strongly urged to contact their legislators – even if they already did so earlier this year – and urge t...
Posted on: 03/04/2014
Senators announce $12.3B transportation funding plan
Last week Sen. Curtis King co-chair of the Senate Transportation Committee unveiled a new transportation funding package. Sen. King was joined by several other members of the Majority Coalition Caucus in announcing the 12-year $12.29 billion proposal which includes an 11.5-cent-per-gallon gas...
Posted on: 02/17/2014
AGC Testifies in Support of Senate Transportation-Funding Measure
The Senate proposal includes a phased-in 11.5-cent per-gallon gas-tax increase (the House-passed bill included a 10.5-cent increase). The gas-tax increase combined with other fees and bonding authority would bring spending to about $12.3 billion. Here’s the list of revenues and expenditures.
...
Posted on: 12/02/2013
Senate Proposes $12B Transportation Package
In a bit of a surprise the State Senate’s Majority Coalition Caucus (comprised of all 23 Republicans and two Democrats) recently proposed a comprehensive transportation-funding package that would increase transportation spending by more than $12 billion.While the Senate proposal ups the ante comp...
Posted on: 11/18/2013
Big Bertha
At the October 15th breakfast meeting of the AGC Seattle District Matt Preedy Alaskan Way Viaduct-Replacement Program Deputy-Program Administrator and Chris Dixon Seattle Tunnel Partners Project Manager will update AGC members on the project. Learn about the tunneling process construction cha...
Posted on: 09/30/2013
AGC Members Make the Case for Transportation Funding
Thanks to AGC members who have participated or are planning to participate in transportation hearings being held throughout the state!
The Washington State Senate Republican Caucus reports that hundreds of Washington citizens turned out to share their thoughts and ideas on state transportation i...
Posted on: 09/24/2013
Renewed Push for Transportation Package
AGC and its partners in the Keep Washington Rolling coalition are implementing a campaign aimed at convincing the Legislature to pass a new transportation package in a special session or as soon as possible during the 2014 session.
Keep Washington Rolling (KWR) is a statewide group that includes...
Posted on: 09/10/2013
Why Are New Transportation Investments Needed?
One of AGCs top policy goals this year is passage of a transportation investment package. With coalition partners from business labor and the environmental community AGC has urged Governor Inslee and the Legislature to develop and pass during the 2013 legislative session a comprehensive statewide...
Posted on: 02/15/2013
Columbia River Crossing, Pt. Defiance Bypass Get a Boost
Yesterday President Obama announced that the Columbia River Crossing and Point Defiance Bypass projects will be expedited to put Americans to work replacing aging infrastructure and improving the reliability and resiliency of critical highway transit and rail systems.
The White House said it is ...
Posted on: 08/21/2012
Nearly $5 Million Windfall for WSDOT
AGC of America reports that the Obama Administration is making $473 million in highway funds available for states to use immediately. More than $4.7 million could be headed to Washington State.
The funds come from unspent earmarks that were included in the US Department of Transportation’s appr...