SEATTLE (AP) — Transportation Secretary Paula Hammond welded her initials to the keel of a new Washington ferry to mark the start of construction Monday at Todd Pacific Shipyard in Seattle.
This is the second 64-car ferry needed for the Port Townsend-Keystone run between the Olympic Peninsula and Whidbey Island. The ferry service is accepting proposed names for the new vessel.
The first new 64-car ferry, the Chetzemoka, is being outfitted and tested at Everett and is scheduled to go into service in late summer.
Todd was awarded a $114 million contract to build three of the ferries. The third will go on the Point Defiance-Tahlequah route in 2012.
The contract has an option for a fourth vessel that would be either a 64-car ferry or 144-car ferry.
