Congressman Rick Larsen's Online Office

Washington, D.C. — U.S. Representative Rick Larsen (WA-02) delivered the following testimony today to the Highways and Transit Subcommittee regarding the major surface transportation bill the subcommittee is writing this spring. The last surface transportation bill, known as SAFETEA-LU, brought $4 billion to Washington state over five years, creating local jobs and improving public safety.

“Mr. Chairman, thank you for the opportunity to testify before the subcommittee on behalf of my High Priority Project requests.

“I look forward to working with you and Chairman Oberstar to make a significant investment in our nation’s transportation infrastructure and build a foundation for future economic growth as we rewrite the federal surface transportation legislation.

“In February, President Obama and Congress took an important first step to modernize our roads, bridges and transit; create jobs; and help our economy recover by passing the economic recovery package. Recovery dollars are already going to work in Washington state and in my district.

“In fact, just yesterday the Washington State Department of Transportation announced that they had obligated over 50% of their economic recovery funding – 51 days ahead of schedule.  That makes Washington state one of about five or six states to obligate that much money. 

“In Snohomish County in my district, a project to re-pave a worn-out section of Interstate-5 has already gone out to bid and is expected to employ approximately 60 workers during construction. 

“In Whatcom County, the Whatcom Transportation Authority will combine economic recovery money with a federal appropriation to buy 11 new buses to help replace their aging fleet.  Whatcom Transit saw the highest ridership increase in the country last year, so these new buses will help them keep up with skyrocketing ridership.

“In Washington state, recovery projects are addressing pressing local needs, creating jobs, and coming in ahead of schedule and under budget.

“Despite these successes, the recovery package only funds a small percentage of the investment our country needs to invest in our aging transportation infrastructure. 

“In Washington state, our Department of Transportation and Metropolitan Planning Organizations selected their recovery projects from lists of hundreds of shovel-ready projects.

“As we write the next surface transportation bill, it is clear that our nation needs a significant investment in our transportation infrastructure to modernize our roads, bridges and transit; create jobs; and set the foundation for future economic growth. 

“The top transportation priorities for my district in the next authorization are highway safety, freight mobility, and ferries.  In addition to pushing for specific policy changes to the current authorization, I have approached the High Priority Project process with these three issue areas in mind.

“Highway safety is a top priority for my district.  My district includes US Highway 2, a stretch of highway where there have been over 50 fatal accidents since 1999.  The communities along this 50 mile span of US 2 and the Washington State Department of Transportation have partnered to implement safety improvement projects throughout the corridor.  The US 2 Route Development Plan, or RDP, has identified over $1 billion in projects to enhance safety and reduce congestion on US 2.

“In the next authorization, one of my High Priority Project requests is $10 million to construct safety improvement projects in the US 2 corridor between Snohomish and Gold Bar.  This highly travelled corridor experiences a large number of fatal and injury accidents.  A key priority among the possible projects is the intersection of US 2 and Bickford Avenue.  This location has experienced a significant number of collisions in the last 5 years and was identified as one of the highest-rated projects on the US 2 Route Development Plan. 

“Freight mobility is a priority for my district and Washington State.  In 2007, Washington State freight systems supported over 1 million jobs in freight-dependent industry sectors.  Washington State’s transportation infrastructure – including our northern border crossings; Interstate 5; Burlington Northern Santa Fe and Union Pacific rail lines; the Ports of Everett, Seattle and Tacoma; and intermodal connectors – is critical to supporting the movement of freight. 

“I intend to request a High Priority Project in my district to help freight move safely and efficiently across the U.S./Canada border.  The Blaine Freight and Passenger Rail Improvement project will construct additional rail line capacity to keep the import and export of freight to and from Canada moving efficiently.  It also provides additional siding track to allow for safer inspection of freight traffic coming into the U.S at the Swift U.S. Customs and Border Protection facility. 

“The additional siding track has the added advantage of allowing freight train inspections to occur off the main line, helping ensure that Amtrak Cascades passenger trains operate on time.

“Ferries are top priority for my district and Washington state.  Washington State Ferries is the largest ferry system in the United States and carries over 25 million riders annually.  Ferries are integral to the transportation infrastructure of Washington State:  they are an extension of the highway system and provide public transportation to help thousands of my constituents get to work and to return home. 

“I intend to request High Priority Project funding for the Anacortes Multimodal Ferry Terminal in my district.  Washington State Ferries provides the only public transportation access to several of the San Juan Islands, and all these routes depart from the Anacortes Ferry Terminal.  This project will replace the existing terminal building and five spans of the passenger overhead loading system and pave terminal access lanes and parking lots. 

“I also encourage the Subcommittee to improve and expand the overall federal investment in ferry transportation.

“Tomorrow, Senator Murray and I will introduce the United States Ferry Systems Investment Act of 2009.  Our legislation would make a robust investment in the federal ferryboat program.  It would also mandate that half of those funds be distributed by formula to help ensure that significant funding is directed to the largest and most important public ferry systems.  Half of the program funds would continue to be distributed on a discretionary basis, which would help initiate and expand ferry services throughout the country. 

“I believe that these changes would significantly improve the current program and provide our nation’s ferry systems with the resources they need to improve public safety, meet growing demand and create jobs to keep our economy moving.
 
“Mr. Chairman, thank you for this opportunity to present my project requests for the next surface transportation authorization.  I look forward to continuing to work with you and the rest of the Subcommittee to invest in our nation’s transportation infrastructure and set the foundation for future economic growth.”

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