I received the monthly Washington State Department of Transportation- Eastern Region email newsletter update yesterday and it had a couple of interesting tidbits in it:
– A new round of federal ‘Transportation Investments Generating Economic Growth’ (TIGER) grants was recently announced and the North Spokane Corridor was selected as one of three projects submitted by the WSDOT. The project submitted is the realignment of about 7.5 miles of BNSF Railway mainline and spur tracks plus building two NSC freeway bridges, two pedestrian bridges, and an additional mile of pedestrian/bike trail.
The Department requested $18.9 million towards the $31.5 million project. The work will enable continued construction of the NSC corridor between the Francis/Freya interchange and the Spokane River. There is $500 million available nationwide to be awarded to projects in this round of TIGER funding.
– Construction of the new Keller Ferry vessel began on March 28th. Foss Maritime of Seattle is working on the aluminum hull at their shipyard in Rainier, OR. The hull and superstructure will be built in several sections, then transported to Grand Coulee, WA via truck sometime this fall. Final assembly will take place at Crescent Bay on Lake Roosevelt with the launch planned for May, 2013.