As WA’s roads fall apart, Ferguson wants to ‘focus on the basics with $2.1B transportation investment

Washington Governor Bob Ferguson is proposing a $2.1 billion investment in transportation and an overhaul of the state’s transportation spending priorities to focus on maintenance and preservation.

Ferguson said $164 million will go just to paving, which will occur next summer.

“Fixing potholes is not sexy,” Ferguson said. “I understand that, but it is important.”

Ferguson wants the state to spend more than $750 million on paving over the next decade.

During the press conference, he painted a picture of crumbling infrastructure and neglect, stating, “We need to focus on the basics.”

“Everybody likes a ribbon cutting for a brand new structure, but we have neglected this core mission of our government for too long, and we need to reprioritize and focus on the needs that we have,” Ferguson said.

If approved, a whopping $1.1 billion would go just to bridges — painting, sealing, and preserving. He claimed maintenance on several bridges is more than a decade overdue.

“The costs associated with delaying preservation are delays that have real impacts for Washingtonians, for commuters, for money spent by taxpayers, for patchwork fixes and a shorter lifespan for the bridge on the east side of the state,” Ferguson said.

He said he will not raise taxes for this, as the money will come from bonding and existing revenue passed in the last legislative session.

“At the risk of stating the obvious, these investments are not going to fix every single aging bridge or address every road statewide, not close, but the neglect we’ve seen over the years means we have a big backlog that we need to address,” Ferguson said. “Climbing any mountain starts with the first step. That’s the way it works. And so that’s what we’re doing here.”

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