Work Underway to Include 12th District in Transportation Package

The Washington State Senate is working on two different transportation budgets as we near the midpoint of the 2021 session.

12th District's Brad Hawkins says one of the budgets will be for the next two years which funds the DOT, State Patrol and more, but the 10-year package includes projects that could come to North Central Washington.

"I also want to drive the costs down of transportation projects. Streamline environmental permitting, do some more things that drive down the costs of the project. Some of the projects, like the Confluence Parkway, which in my opinion is one of the most important projects in our region, that would be really important to our area."

He says there may need to be additional gas taxes to pay for the project, and for now, costs are only going up.

He says it's also possible that some federal money could come to the area and get even more road projects done.

"The Chelan-Douglas Transportation Council has a collection of five transportation priorities and they total approximately $225 million and I'm working to get that included in the package."

He says better infrastructure is particularly good for agriculture.