For Immediate Release

April 4, 2004

BREMERTON TRAFFIC AID, FERRY CONSTRUCTION FUNDS
ADDED TO TRANSPORTATION LEGISLATION IN HOUSE

WASHINGTON, D.C. – The House of Representatives on Friday passed legislation to re-authorize federal transportation programs over the next six years, including funds to improve pedestrian access to downtown Bremerton and to boost federal assistance for ferry boat construction, U.S. Rep. Norm Dicks said.

            The legislation continues all of the major surface transportation programs conducted by the U.S. Department of Transportation, funded primarily through the Federal Highway Trust Fund.  It includes a special allocation of $20 million for Bremerton's plan to help resolve the ferry-related traffic congestion problem that has plagued the downtown area in recent years.  The city is currently studying options for improving pedestrian access to the area, including a tunnel to channel inbound ferry traffic underneath the congested downtown streets.   The preferred option will be determined later this year.  Another $8.7 million has been secured by Rep. Dicks in previous transportation appropriations bills for the project.

            Rep. Dicks, who favors the tunnel concept, emphasized the importance of improving the pedestrian and retail customer access to downtown.  "This effort to achieve a more 'pedestrian friendly Bremerton' is critical to revitalizing the downtown and waterfront areas and enhancing the prospects for residential and small business development," he said.

            Also continued in the transportation bill is a special account established in 1991 by Rep. Dicks to assist in the construction of ferry boats that function as highways across bodies of water such as Puget Sound.   When originally established, the account assisted the construction of ferries with Highway Trust Fund money -- later expanded to include ferry system facilities.  Washington State has received about $5 million each year from the allocation, an amount that will be assured in the new law according to a formula that Rep. Dicks and other Washington congressmen have included.

            The transportation bill was adopted by a large margin (357-to-65) in the House despite the Bush Administration's preference for a smaller bill that provided less funding for congestion relief and infrastructure restoration.  During the debate, congressional sponsors of the legislation emphasized that one third of major U.S. roads are in poor or mediocre condition and 29 percent of bridges are structurally deficient or functionally obsolete.

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