State lawmakers have stitched together a new transportation spending plan that keeps dollars flowing toward Washington’s main highway expansions and might prevent further delays to replace worn-out state ferries.
Drivers will pay higher gas taxes, starting at 6 cents more per gallon July 1, followed by 2% more per year. Diesel fuel will be taxed an additional 6 cents, in phases.
Also, a 0.1% piece of the state’s 6.5% general sales tax will be shifted to transportation. Those increases, along with steeper car-tab fees for vehicle weight, boosts in vehicle sales taxes and a luxury tax on cars worth more than $100,000, and other charges, should add a total $3.2 billion during the first six years.
A compromise tax bill passed the Senate on Friday, followed by a spending agreement Saturday signed by six key members from Democratic and Republican parties. Those are destined for final votes by the full House and Senate on Sunday, the last day of the 2025 session.
This will be the first direct gas-tax increase since 2016, though fuel costs are also affected by carbon fees that refineries pay under the Climate Commitment Act of 2021. (Consumers absorbed about 26 cents per gallon in CCA charges as of last fall, an independent group calculated.)
The Washington gas tax will be 55.4 cents a gallon in July, the third-highest in the U.S., plus the 18.4 cent federal tax.
Despite a new surge of money, the Legislature deliberately left budgets and timelines for many individual projects in limbo until at least 2030, based on fear of overcommitment. Some aren’t affordable, while others are partly affordable or might even get finished, depending on inflation over the next couple of years.
Marko Liias, D-Edmonds, chair of the Senate Transportation Committee, likened this strategy to drivers who slow down in a rainstorm
Lawmakers considered but didn’t approve some other proposed funding sources such as increased ferry fares, a 10% tax on electric bicycle sales, higher fees for electric vehicle registration, fees on public transit to compensate for tolls buses don’t pay and a per-mile road usage charge championed by Rep. Jake Fey, D-Tacoma, chair of the House Transportation Committee.
Heaps of highway projects
The state will “finish the job” on the mostly completed Highway 520 replacement, the North Spokane Corridor and extensions of highways 509 and 167 in SeaTac, Fife and the Port of Tacoma, said Liias.
Sen. Curtis King, R-Yakima, said the plan keeps promises to build most roads approved in 2015-16, when the state last raised gas taxes. Certain projects approved in the 2020s will be delayed, he said, “but our efforts are going to be that those are covered as well.”
For instance, a $632 million outlay to widen perennially clogged Highway 18 has been shoved out from the mid-2020s until possibly the early 2030s, a new project list says.
The long-term rebuild and widening of I-90, from Keechelus Lake to Easton, will keep chugging along, but it’s only two-thirds funded through 2031.
Washington state remains committed to a mammoth I-5 replacement bridge over the Columbia River, still years from groundbreaking, projected to cost roughly $6 billion, a burden shared by Oregon and the federal government. Liias said the 2025 Legislature made progress by authorizing I-5 construction bond sales to be repaid by bridge tolls. The new spending list shows construction funds from Washington state, though half of that appears to be post-2030.
A new Highway 2 trestle between Lake Stevens and Everett, thought to require $2 billion, is still unfunded. Liias said the Washington State Department of Transportation and the city of Everett will pursue spot improvements to decongest the Highway 2/I-5 junction.
Progress on ferries
Liias said new revenues ought to supply enough cash to build five new hybrid ferries that operate on rechargeable batteries with backup diesel motors. But how soon, and the full costs, are unknown until WSDOT receives bid prices later this year. That’s the first phase toward building a greener fleet of 16 vessels.
The new budget reflects agreement with Gov. Bob Ferguson’s decision to suspend conversions of two older ferries to electric power until after the 2026 FIFA World Cup. That choice lowers the risk of being short on vessels and frees up possibly $158 million in conversion expenses for other transportation use. The governor’s spokesperson couldn’t be reached for comment Saturday.
So far, only the ferry Wenatchee has been converted to accept electric power and will rejoin the current 21-vessel fleet this summer, putting 18 vessels on the routes for the first time since 2019. Liias said the Legislature maintained funding to recruit and train mariners; Washington State Ferries Chief Steve Nevey recently reported he’s reached full staffing, after worker shortages canceled hundreds of sailings in the early 2020s.
“We need to do better”
The new budget still falls short of the $1 billion per year WSDOT considers necessary to keep roads and bridges in good repair. Washington ranks among the worst states for rough and broken pavement, as exposed rebar on I-90 between Mercer Island and Bellevue can testify.
Washington historically spends half the needed level because megaprojects like the Highway 99 tunnel, Highway 520 replacement and I-405 toll lanes flooded WSDOT with costs and debt.
The new plan provides only $903 million total from 2025-27 toward major preservation, in a $16.2 billion, two-year transportation budget. The new plan does add $399 million during 2027-29.
“We’re making a step forward, but that’s an area we need to do better,” Liias said.
The choice to limit major maintenance spending, known as the preservation fund, was made primarily because the Legislature didn’t want to saddle the public with even higher gas taxes, he said. An earlier House proposal would have added 9 cents and annual 3% increases.
Culvert crisis
Washington state will miss its court-ordered 2030 deadline to replace state culverts, where streams were jammed into steel or concrete pipes that block salmon. The new plan adds $1.2 billion to the $4 billion already spent or allocated to new stream underpasses.
Tribes and WSDOT agreed to mediation this year to solve the culvert crisis. Among other problems, according to a Seattle Times investigation, state culvert projects are often futile because local culverts still block the same streams.
Culvert estimates have doubled to $8 billion or higher. Liias called the $1.2 billion infusion sensible for the time being, since mediation might drastically change how streams are restored.
Improving safety
Rep. Brandy Donaghy, D-Mill Creek, said the new budget increases safety funds, a high priority for her. Among other missions, it pays for barriers to reduce crossover crashes, better walk-bike routes, driver education training for youth and filling vacancies in the State Patrol. Pedestrian safety, including education and safe routes to school, will get $231 million in the next two years, an increase of about half from 2023-25.
Liias said speed enforcement cameras will be increased to protect road workers from an epidemic of crashes. They’re expected to rake in $138 million over six years.
Seattle Times staff reporters Nicholas Deshais and Mike Reicher contributed to this report.
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