Senate bill would inject additional billions into biggest transit projects
Written by RT&S Staff
Senate bill would send more federal funding to transit projects.
Sound Transit
A bill has been introduced in the U.S. Senate that would give some of the biggest transit projects in the country a big financial boost.
U.S. Sen. Patty Murray (D-Wash.), who serves on the Senate Appropriations Committee, announced the Public Transit Capital Investment Relief Act on March 18. The bill would give 12 projects a total of $12.3 billion in federal funding. Sens. Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.), Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.), Alex Padilla (D-Calif.), Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.), Tina Smith (D-Minn.) and Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) all sponsored the bill.
The extra money would help a financially handicapped Sound Transit, the agency that serves voters of Murray and Cantwell. If passed, the Lynnwood and Federal Way light-rail extension projects would receive another $1.9 billion. The two lines have already received $2 billion in federal aid. The total cost of the projects is $6.4 billion.
Sound Transit is currently looking at an $11.5 billion revenue hole created by the COVID-19 pandemic, which destroyed state sales taxes, etc. Data is showing that state government tax income is recovering rapidly.
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