Plan includes money for waterfront but not bridge

Gov. Chris Gregoire’s proposed budget includes money for the Columbia River waterfront and a state Highway 500 interchange, but nothing for a new Interstate 5 bridge.

“We assume it continues, but we don’t have additional dollars to fund it,” Gregoire said about the Columbia River Crossing during a conference call with The Columbian Thursday.

Gregoire, a Democrat who begins her second four-year term next month, promised three months ago to include $3.1 million in her budget for infrastructure improvements to open up the former 32-acre Boise Cascade site.

Gregoire said she put that amount in her capital budget for the coming biennium, money the city of Vancouver could use to support a large-scale project that could attract $1.2 billion in private investment and generate millions in tax receipts for state and local governments.

The city has identified $38.6 million in rail, road and utility improvements and pledged $15.5 million to the project. Developers have agreed to chip in $8 million, and state lawmakers already approved $910,000.

The governor said she “absolutely” believes it’s a prudent investment for the state and city to spend money upfront, given the project’s potential to generate tax revenues for decades to come.

The governor’s budget unveiled Thursday also provides $52 million to build a new interchange where St. Johns Boulevard crosses Highway 500. The project would improve safety in a high-collision corridor that mixes traffic signals with vehicles traveling at freeway speeds.

That project is miniscule compared with the Columbia River Crossing, which would include building a new bridge with up to six lanes in each direction, extending Portland’s light-rail line into Vancouver and rebuilding seven freeway interchanges, along with assorted other road improvements. Total cost is expected to range from $3.5 billion to $4.2 billion.

Gregoire said she has discussed with President-elect Barack Obama the need for the federal government to take a different approach to transportation funding, rather than relying on gas taxes and other conventional sources. But Gregoire said she did not mention the Columbia River Crossing project to the incoming president.

Gregoire might have Obama’s ear. Back in February, when the former Illinois senator was locked in nomination battle with fellow Democrat Hillary Clinton, both of Washington’s U.S. senators, Democrats Patty Murray and Maria Cantwell, were backing Clinton, but Gregoire broke from the pack and endorsed Obama the day before Washington’s presidential caucuses.

Obama is eyeing a stimulus package worth as much as $850 billion to pump up a deflated economy, but Gregoire said it’s unlikely the Columbia River Crossing project will get anything from that package.

Obama wants to sign the package on Jan. 21, one day after he is inaugurated as the nation’s 44th president, Gregoire said. The president-elect is looking for “shovel-ready” projects that can begin 90 to 120 days after the stimulus package is signed, she said.

“It will be bold, as he puts it, which means big,” Gregoire said.