Gov. Inslee pauses key road projects to focus on fish passage improvements
The Washington State Department of Transportation continues to replace hundreds of culverts. (WSDOT)
Fish over freight and congestion: That’s the battle brewing behind the scenes in the Legislature, with Gov. Jay Inslee “pausing” several key roads projects, choosing instead to push more money to a court-ordered removal of fish barriers.
Gov. Inslee told the Washington State Department of Transportation to put the bidding process on hold for projects that did not meet his directive to focus on fish passage projects. WSDOT head Roger Millar then came up with a list of nine transportation projects that did not meet the criteria, and they include the Gateway Project, which would finish 167 from Puyallup to I-5 and 509 into the Port of Tacoma, and the I-5 projects in Marysville that would add a new on and off ramp to Highway 529.