Murray championed the provision in the FY23 spending bill to secure the $115 million in additional funding for Sound Transit
Senator Murray: “COVID-19, inflation, and ongoing supply chain disruptions have made expanding and upgrading public transit more expensive and challenging than ever, and this new funding is going to make a big difference to support these projects, which are crucial to reducing congestion, people’s commutes, and curbing emissions.”
ICYMI: Senator Murray Announces Major Funding for Washington State Transportation, Housing Priorities in End-of-Year Package – MORE HERE
(Seattle, WA) – Today, U.S. Senator Patty Murray (D-WA), incoming Chair of the Senate Appropriations Committee, announced over $115 million in new funding for Sound Transit to support the Federal Way Link and Lynnwood Link projects. This funding is an additional Capital Investment Grant (CIG) award, which Senator Murray secured in the end-of-year spending package passed last month.
“Sound Transit helps hundreds of thousands of people across the Puget Sound get to where they need to be. It’s a critical part of our transit infrastructure—and that’s why I fought hard to secure this critical $115 million in new funding to support the Federal Way Link and the Lynnwood Link and connect even more workers and communities across the Sound,” said Senator Murray. “COVID-19, inflation, and ongoing supply chain disruptions have made expanding and upgrading public transit more expensive and challenging than ever, and this new funding is going to make a big difference to support these projects, which are crucial to reducing congestion, people’s commutes, and curbing emissions.”
“This significant federal support, on top of the existing federal Full Funding Grant Agreements, is critical to helping complete the most ambitious transit expansion in the nation. Working together, we will transform the way people travel while protecting our planet,” said Sound Transit Board Chair and King County Executive Dow Constantine. “Our residents are grateful to Senator Murray and our congressional delegation for their continued support, and to the Biden Administration for joining us in our vision for the future of Central Puget Sound.”
Senator Murray worked to secure $2.21 billion in annual funding for the Capital Investment Grant (CIG) program, a discretionary funding program administered through the Federal Transit Administration (FTA) for the construction and expansion of new and existing fixed-guideway public transit systems such as heavy rail, light rail, commuter rail, bus rapid transit, streetcars, ferries, and certain corridor-based bus systems. CIG is essential to meeting the critical transportation infrastructure needs of the Puget Sound Region and easing congestion in the heart of the most congested interstate corridor in the Pacific Northwest.
In particular, Senator Murray was able to secure an additional $425 million for several ongoing CIG projects experiencing cost overruns due to the pandemic, supply chain disruptions, and inflation—$115 million of which is headed to support Sound Transit’s ongoing projects, with over $61 million in new funding for Federal Way Link and over $54 million in new funding for Lynnwood Link. This is a result of language authored by Murray and included in the FY23 omnibus appropriations bill and the culmination of nearly two years of Senator Murray’s efforts to secure additional relief for transit agencies.
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