Tuesday May 6, 2025
The Seattle Times —
Another billion dollars of highway construction to restore salmon habitat will likely be coming to Western Washington over the next six years.
The state Legislature approved an additional $1.1 billion for court-ordered Department of Transportation culvert replacement projects, bringing the program’s roughly two-decade total to $5.2 billion. At least for now. Gov. Bob Ferguson still has until May 20 to review and veto items in the budget.
Representatives from the state and tribal nations are also expected to begin mediation over the program’s schedule and scope, maybe as soon as this month, said W. Ron Allen, chair of the Jamestown S’Klallam Tribe. The talks, part of a tribal treaty fishing rights case, will determine how much more the vast habitat restoration will cost the state.
Allen said the additional funding shows legislators are prioritizing this salmon restoration work under difficult fiscal conditions.