Highway bill earmarks billions for Wash., Ore.

The House passed a $286.4 billion highway and mass transit bill Friday that could provide long-awaited relief for the nation's travelers while creating tens of thousands of construction jobs.

The bill includes $220 million to help underwrite the multibillion-dollar cost of replacing Seattle's Alaskan Way Viaduct, lawmakers say. Lawmakers from both parties hailed the highway and transit bill, which would provide more than $4 billion for highway and transit projects in Washington state, and $2.7 billion for Oregon.

"Our delegation has done an incredible job of standing up for the viaduct," Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., said Thursday. "We stood together and convinced our colleagues of this critical safety and economic need."

The lawmakers stressed that even with the $220 million, the viaduct replacement is far from certain. The federal money is just a fraction of the estimated $3 billion or more needed to replace the aging viaduct, which was damaged in the 2001 Nisqually earthquake.

An initiative likely to appear on the November ballot would give voters a chance to overturn a 9.5-cent-per-gallon gas tax increase passed by the state Legislature. Revenue from the tax hike would help pay for a massive $8 billion plan to fix the state's crowded transportation network - including the viaduct and a new state Route 520 bridge across Lake Washington.

Repeal of the gas tax increase would jeopardize the viaduct replacement, lawmakers said, because there is virtually no chance the federal government will pay for the entire project.

Rep. Dave Reichert, R-Wash., called the $220 million authorization a team effort, and noted that the money came after he invited Rep. Don Young, R-Alaska, to visit Seattle and see the viaduct for himself. Young chairs the House transportation panel and was a key force behind the highway bill.

Additional from article: Young said his visit to Seattle last month helped persuade him to support the viaduct project. "I looked out at the traffic, and out on I-5, and my God almighty, you guys would be paralyzed" if the roadway collapsed or was closed, he told The Seattle Times. "You wouldn't have room to take a sip of water from a straw." Besides the viaduct, the highway bill includes millions for highways, ferries, and transit programs through 2009.

I did some searches on Seattle Times and PI (you have to register to get to archives and I didn't want to, along w KOMO and King 5). And couldn't find the specifics John Carlson (KVI) talked about yesterday on his show.

John said he heard on the local news (Thurs night) and read in the papers Fri a.m. that the $220M was tied to the 9.5% gas increase and if the no new gas tax initiative passed, we wouldn't get the $220M. He said to himself - that's not true and wanted to have Dave on to discuss. Note that this article isn't exactly as bad as what John was saying he heard/read, nonetheless, it does seem to give the Dims much more voice that Dave and doesn't mention that the viaduct doesn't have to be replaced - we could just retrofit and upgrade it for much less $$s.

John said the following yesterday on his show. He also had Dave Reichert (US Rep from my district) on:

Patty Murray called a press con call Thurs as soon as the Senate approved the hwy bill; however, she only invited Dims to participate - she did not include Dave R. Essentially, she gave herself and the Dims credit and none to Dave (who was largely responsible for getting the $s).

They said that Seattle would lose the $200M for the viaduct if the no new gas tax initiative was approved by voters. This is not true and 1 has nothing to do with the other.

John said Dave was chiefly responsible for getting the $s for the viaduct because of the following:

- Inviting Andrew Young (committee chairperson to tour viaduct, which he did earlier this summer).

- Arranging a con call between Young and McNichols Seattle's liberal mayor (John felt Young wouldn't have given McNichols the time of day if Reichert hadn't got them together).

- Reichert was on the house/senate committee for the hwy bill and shephered the WA $'s through

Other comments during the portion of the show I heard:

Dave said that WA state is getting $1/$1 return for Fed gas taxes we pay.

John mentioned that the Dims in WA state keep insisting that we need a new viaduct; however, John asked if we just retrofitted and updated the viaduct to make it earthquake, etc. safe (which would be a fraction of the cost for re-building it), could the $s be used for that - Dave said yes - the funds are just earmarked for the viaduct - as long as they are spent on that, it doesn't matter if it's upgraded or new. John also mentioned that some have wanted to rebuild the viaduct for over 30 years so doesn't think they're even looking at the possibility of retrofit/upgrades - just want to spend our $s and give jobs (e.g., payback) to consultants, unions, etc that have supported the Dims.

One thing we don't hear much about in the local news - the No New Gas Tax Iniative got about twice as many signatures on the petitions as required (440k) and the latest polls show it 20 points up

The last election showed without a shred of doubt that the government and its elections process are rife with incompetence. There's a high degree of suspicion of fraud and corruption that hides behind the veil of incompetence.

Not only is there an acknowledged awareness of underlying corruption, there is also awareness of a concerted effort to stop any serious effort for financial audits and assessments of accountability.

Washington State voters are still angry and are in no mood to give the current regime any additional tax money.

Roads, bridges, ferries and mass transportation can wait.

First things first. A legitimate governor, an accountable audit process and an overhaul and purging of the state elections offices must precede any grand transportation projects else it will be money thrown into a black hole that only union supported democrats will know its disbursement.

Two and a half years from now, twice elected Governor Rossi will lead the very angry voting public to clearing out the crooks in Olympia. Then we'll talk about the Viaduct.

Lori, I posted links to both the seattle slimes and post intelligence versions on our local board yesterday;

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2002408636_viaduct29.html

"But Murray warned: "Everybody needs to understand that if the gas tax is repealed in November we will lose the federal dollars that have been allocated."

and...

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/transportation/234500_viaduct29.html

"A lot of folks said this couldn't get done, but the delegation stood together and we made our case," said Rep. Rick Larsen, D-Wash., who earlier yesterday joined McDermott and Sens. Patty Murray and Maria Cantwell in celebrating the viaduct's good fortune. Republican Rep. Dave Reichert also played an instrumental role by serving on the conference committee that wrote the final bill and by working to convince the committee's chairman, Rep. Don Young, R-Alaska, that the viaduct was important."

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.