OLYMPIA, Wash. (AP) — Gov. Jay Inslee has signed a transportation budget that puts money toward maintaining state roadways and continues spending on existing big-ticket projects, but he vetoed several sections, including one that would have spent $81 million in planning money for a replacement bridge carrying Interstate 5 over the Columbia River.
Inslee signed the $8.7 billion budget on Monday. It includes continued funding for the Alaskan Way Viaduct tunnel project, a replacement bridge for State Route 520 over Lake Washington and high-occupancy lanes on Interstate 5 in Tacoma.
The budget initially included the planning money for the Columbia River Crossing, but the Republican-dominated Senate has also come out in opposition to the Columbia River Crossing in its current form, saying that it is too low and should not include light rail transit. Inslee says there’s no point of spending the planning money if the state funding for the bridge isn’t there.
