OLYMPIA, Wash. – Governor Inslee has signed off on a massive transportation spending package.
The nearly $17 billion, 16-year transportation revenue package will pay for a variety of projects across the state.
This includes the construction of four new hybrid electric ferries, along with electrifying two existing ferries.
Other projects include more walking and biking corridors, highway maintenance, and replacing fish passage culverts.
Funding is also provided to ensure that those age 18 and younger can ride for free on public transportation, including the state’s ferries and Amtrak.
And it also factors in the state’s share of the cost to replace the I-5 bridge over the Columbia River that connects Washington and Oregon.
Washington is responsible for $1 billion of the construction on that bridge.
The transportation package signed by the governor includes a target of 2030 for all new cars registered in Washington to be electric.
Coltura is a non-profit with the goal of a gasoline-free future that lobbied for the measure.
Founder Matthew Metz says it will help spur investment in the necessary infrastructure.
“If all of the sudden we fast forward to 2030 and everyone had electric cars, would we be ready? No,” said Metz. “That’s the whole point of the bill is to get us ready. To get us to the point where in 2030 when all the car sales are electric and the system will work well and everyone will be happy.”
The initiative called Clean Cars 2030 is the most aggressive state effort in the nation to phase out gasoline-powered cars.