The biggest projects the state is currently working on — from rebuilding highways to electrifying the ferries — have grown in cost by $1.3 billion. Couple that with a new forecast predicting the state will bring in $2.2 billion less over 10 years than anticipated, and legislators are looking at $1 billion in red ink for transportation funding in the upcoming 2025-27 biennium, which begins July 1.
State Sen. Marko Liias, D-Edmonds, who leads the Senate Transportation Committee, said lawmakers are just getting started on the budget but the “early outlook is pretty devastating impacts on some of the projects that are planned.”