MEDIA CONTACT: Marlene Feist (509) 625-6740
Spokane Mayor David Condon today expressed his personal thanks to U.S. Sens. Maria Cantwell (D-WA), Patty Murray (D-WA), and Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers (R-WA-05) for their joint efforts in support of a request for federal TIGER funding for the North Spokane Corridor.
“I am grateful for the leadership of Senator Cantwell, Senator Murray, and Congresswoman McMorris Rodgers for their active support of the Spokane region’s highest transportation priority, completing the North Spokane Corridor,” says Mayor Condon. “It’s exciting to see our Congressional delegation united in their support of the TIGER funding request for this critical project.”
The delegation today sent a joint letter in support of the funding request, calling the project “a critical artery that will speed the movement of vehicles and freight” around the Spokane metropolitan area.
The Washington State Department of Transportation is requesting $18.9 million in TIGER funds for the next phase of the Spokane project.
The North Spokane Corridor will help grow and maintain Spokane’s economy and create jobs. The project preserves Spokane’s role as a hub for distribution and transportation and strengthening a significant U.S.-Canada freight route. The project will vastly improve safety while enhancing the movement of goods. The project also reduces air pollution and provides congestion relief. The next phase of the project will cost a total of $31.5 million.
That phase of work will relocate 7.5 miles of BNSF mainline, switching, and spur tracks; constructs freeway and pedestrian/bicycle structures, and extends the existing 5.5 mile pedestrian/bicycle trail by over one mile into the Hillyard neighborhood.
The existing US 395 currently carries more than $13.5 billion worth of freight through Spokane on a congested roadway past schools and parks.
The TIGER—Transportation Investment Generating Economic Recovery—program is run by the U.S. Department of Transportation. USDOT is authorized to award $500 million in TIGER grants in FY 2012.
