Inslee's Budget removes funds for Spokane's North-South Freeway

[PS90]

Whatever the hell the tax revenue is (which is debatable), to me, it comes down to Inslee pulling funding for a much-needed highway, in order to spend that money on his own luxury pet-projects, such as electric ferries and whatever "diversity initiatives" are.

In other words, Inslee would rather use the money on his personal "wants" than the entire state's "needs".

This guy is a joke.

[CrazyDonkey]

A factor could be falling "gas tax" revenues - the state can't allocate funds that are not at its disposal. Additional funding sources may need to be found.

https://www.spokesman.com/stories/20...s-washington-/ ("As gas tax revenue drops, Washington Department of Transportation could face 40% funding decline, delay projects")

The department hasn’t quite measured the full scale of the fallout, Gribner emphasized, but as of late last week, his back-of-the-envelope calculations indicated the department will be $100 million short on revenue – per month. “So that’s approaching 40% of our total revenue picture,” Gribner said. “That’s a big hole.”

The devastation would be felt most directly, he said, on the $16 billion Connecting Washington program, which includes $879 million to finish the North Spokane Corridor by 2029 and which was funded primarily by an 11.9-cent gas tax increase that took full effect in July 2016.

The state budget is biennial, by the way. The ball seems to be in the Legislature's court.

[Transmition]

Originally Posted by PS90

Whatever the hell the tax revenue is (which is debatable), to me, it comes down to Inslee pulling funding for a much-needed highway, in order to spend that money on his own luxury pet-projects, such as electric ferries and whatever "diversity initiatives" are.

In other words, Inslee would rather use the money on his personal "wants" than the entire state's "needs".

This guy is a joke.

He hasn't pulled anything, this is a proposed budget for the legislature to work on. Don't get me wrong, he sucks, but it's weird to focus on him as the issue when I'm pretty sure he wasn't compiling the lists of over 1000 projects. Get your local representatives in Olympia to add it back in before passing the bill.

The article is a bit odd, it talks about "Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion initiatives" being a priority but I can't spot any in the budget at all.

[PS90]

Originally Posted by Transmition

He hasn't pulled anything, this is a proposed budget for the legislature to work on. Don't get me wrong, he sucks, but it's weird to focus on him as the issue when I'm pretty sure he wasn't compiling the lists of over 1000 projects. Get your local representatives in Olympia to add it back in before passing the bill.

The article is a bit odd, it talks about "Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion initiatives" being a priority but I can't spot any in the budget at all.

Well, watch any of the local Spokane news in the last 2 weeks, and they are clearly blaming him for being the cause of this proposal. Then again, even local media is known to sensationalize and politicize things to some extent.

[oregonwoodsmoke]

The city of Spokane is suing ODOT over Camp Hope and ODOT's refusal to clean it up. I wonder if that as anything to do with ODOT not recommending he north south freeway as a project to complete

So much money has been put into this project already, it seems foolish to simply stop right in the middle of it. If the freeway is not competed all those many millions already spent are just wasted,

[CrazyDonkey]

Originally Posted by oregonwoodsmoke

The city of Spokane is suing ODOT over Camp Hope and ODOT's refusal to clean it up. I wonder if that as anything to do with ODOT not recommending he north south freeway as a project to complete

Do you really not know what state the city of Spokane is in?

[pnwguy2]

Originally Posted by CrazyDonkey

Do you really not know what state the city of Spokane is in?

Simple error. But the two states have similar formats. Washington State department of transportation. (WSDOT), Oregon Department of transportation (ODOT).