Plan knots together carbon fee, gas tax and new US 2 trestle
OLYMPIA — A plan for raising billions of dollars to build new bridges, widen old highways and open up fish passages will get its first public review this week.
And, depending on the response, it could be its last.
Sen. Steve Hobbs, D-Lake Stevens, has drawn up a 10-year, $16.3 billion package of transportation improvements financed largely with a 6-cent hike in the gas tax and new fees on carbon emissions and development.
Hobbs, who is chairman of the Senate Transportation Committee, calculates that much money is needed to cover the cost of removing state-owned culverts to improve fish passages, rebuilding the U.S. 2 trestle, and building five electric-powered ferries. It also would pay Washington’s share of a new I-5 bridge across the Columbia River, widen Highway 522 between Maltby and the Snohomish River, and fulfill items on wish lists of lawmakers across the state.
On Thursday, he will devote the transportation committee’s entire two-hour meeting to accepting public comments. The meeting will begin at 3:30 p.m
“There are a lot of needs out there. These things cost money,” he said Monday. “This is a chance to see if there is an appetite to do anything.”
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