Washington, DC -- Yesterday afternoon
, Congressman David Wu successfully offered an amendment to a major transportation bill on the floor of the House of Representatives saving
the Washington County Commuter Rail project precious time and resources.
"The Washington County Commuter Rail project will promote economic growth, and lessen traffic congestion in Washington County," said Congressman David Wu. "My amendment will ensure that this important project moves forward on its original time line and avoid unnecessary and costly delays."
Without Congressman Wu's amendment, the Transportation Equity Act: A legacy for Users (HR3550) would have reclassified the Washington County Commuter Rail project as part of the brand new Small Starts program. This program is for all projects under $75 million. This reclassification could have forced the project to restart the entire application process for federal funding, and await the formation of a brand new transit program. These two factors would have easily resulted in at least a one-year delay.
The Washington County Commuter Rail is a 14.7 mile, five station commuter rail line will connect to Tri-Met's existing Westside light rail system at the Beaverton Transit Center. The project will link the rapidly growing suburban communities in the Wilsonville-Beaverton Corridor and alleviate existing and future traffic congestion in western Washington County.
The Washington County, Wilsonville -Beaverton Commuter Rail project has undergone all aspects of a Federal Transit Administration (FTA) New Starts Review and has received a "recommended" rating for 2005. A recommended rating means that a project has been through the financial review, environmental review, project management review and have fulfilled all of the pre-requisites for entering final design.
The amendment was approved unanimously. (HR3550) passed the House of Representatives today and will now proceed to a House Senate conference committee for further consideration.
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