Ports, railroads, airports, & highways will operate more safely & efficiently thanks to once-in-a-generation investment in American infrastructure

November 15 marks two years since President Biden signed the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law (BIL), a once-in-a-generation investment to modernize America’s infrastructure. Since then, the law has delivered approximately $7.9 billion to Washington state, including $5.3 billion for 1,192 road, bridge, transit and climate resilience projects. U.S. Senator Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.), chair of the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation, authored many provisions in the law to meet the growing infrastructure demands in Washington state. Additionally, much of the funding has gone out under grant programs authorized by the Commerce Committee.

“The infrastructure law continues to give Washington's growing economy a big boost. 57 of our state’s airports received money to upgrade their service. $7.9 billion and 1,200 projects later, we have kickstarted much-needed improvements to our roads, bridges, and transit lines to help move Washington’s products and people faster and more safely. Federal investments in broadband infrastructure keep driving down the cost of internet and improving services for thousands of Washingtonians,” Sen. Cantwell said.

This map provides a snapshot of transportation and infrastructure projects across Washington state that received BIL funds in the last two years, including highway, road, port, airport, ferry and culvert projects.

Additionally, the White House released a fact sheet that shows that the BIL is delivering more than 465 grants to Washington state for infrastructure projects as of October 2023. (Note: the White House counts formula grants to states as a single grant, but a state will use that money to pay for multiple separate projects.) Approximately $5.3 billion has been announced for transportation projects, and roughly $366 million has been announced for clean water and water infrastructure. Washington state also received $1.2 billion to connect more households to reliable high-speed internet and, as of today, more than 320,000 Washington households are already saving on their monthly internet bill due to the law.

The benefits of the BIL have already been felt across Washington state. This year, projects funded through the law included:

• $54.2 million to double the capacity of the Port of Tacoma’s Husky Terminal: The Northwest Seaport Alliance received a $54,233,330 federal grant for Phase One of the Husky Terminal Expansion Project at the Port of Tacoma. The Husky Terminal Expansion Project will reconfigure the terminal to allow two ultra-large ships at port instead of just one, install 40 racks for refrigerated containers -- which will allow more agricultural and seafood exporters to utilize refrigerated containers at the Port of Tacoma to ship more product -- and relocate the North Intermodal Yard Tower and other support structures to create more efficient truck routes at the terminal.
  
  The grant was awarded through the Cantwell-championed U.S. Department of Transportation’s Maritime Administration’s (MARAD) Port Infrastructure Development Program (PIDP). It was the single largest award out of the 41 PIDP grants announced last month.
  
  

• $24.98 million to help move Shoalwater Bay Indian Tribe Upland Village to higher ground: This Rebuilding American Infrastructure with Sustainability and Equity (RAISE) grant will help approximately 100 members of the Shoalwater Bay Indian Tribe relocate their homes and headquarter facility from a location threatened by rising sea levels to higher ground. The funds will help the Tribe pave a nearly four-mile road to a future development site.
  
  As Commerce Committee chair, Sen. Cantwell authorized the RAISE grant program for the first time ever in the Surface Transportation Investment Act, which was included in BIL. The BIL provided $7.5 billion to the program over five years, a 50% increase in funding. Sen. Cantwell discussed the project during an August 2022 visit with the Tribe; photos of that visit are available HERE.
  
  

• $40.48 million to build a rail underpass at 32^nd Street in Washougal and eliminate a dangerous at-grade crossing: This grant funds the design and construction of the 32^nd Street Underpass Project, which reconnects Washougal's Addy Street neighborhood with the downtown and port area by reconstructing five key intersections along 32^nd Street. The at-grade crossing is one of the busiest along the BNSF railroad line in the entire state.
  
  These funds came from the U.S. Department of Transportation’s (DOT) Railroad Crossing Elimination Grant Program, which Sen. Cantwell authored and shepherded through Congress as part of the BIL.  It was the second-largest award in the nation out of the 63 grants announced in May.  In July, Sen. Cantwell joined U.S. Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg in Washougal to celebrate the project; photos of that event are available HERE.
  
  

• $15 million to expand the terminal at Spokane International Airport, adding three new gates: Building off last year’s $11 million award, this grant will add 144,000 square feet of space to the airport’s Terminal C, including three new gates and six airline ticket counter locations.
  
  As Commerce Committee chair, Sen. Cantwell ensured that the BIL provided a total of $25 billion for airport improvements, including $5 billion for the Airport Terminal Program (ATP) and $15 billion in Airport Infrastructure Grants (AIG). Sen. Cantwell visited the airport in July 2022 to celebrate an earlier round of ATP funding awarded for the project; audio of that visit is available HERE, and video is available HERE.
  
  

• $2.3 million to help restore fish passage at Workman Creek in Grays Harbor: This award will help design, permit, and implement the removal of two fish passage barrier culverts installed under a single road crossing and replace them with a structure that is fully passable to salmon and all aquatic species in Workman Creek. This barrier correction will meaningfully restore fish passage for six species of migrating fish by opening access to 20.73 miles of excellent spawning and rearing habitat. Sen. Cantwell authored and secured funding for the National Culvert Removal, Replacement and Restoration Grant Program included in the BIL.

Sen. Cantwell authored six of the programs used to disburse BIL grants over the past two years, including: 

• INFRA: Sen. Cantwell created the Nationally Significant Multimodal Freight and Highway Projects (INFRA) program in 2015, establishing the first freight infrastructure-focused grant program at DOT. The BIL provided the program with $8 billion over five years, a 78 percent increase in funds from the FAST Act. The second round of funds are expected to be announced in the coming months.
• National Culvert Removal, Replacement and Restoration: Helps remove or redesign culverts and weirs that create barriers to salmon migration. In August, Sen. Cantwell announced the state received $58 million, the most in the country, for 23 culvert projects from her grant program.
• Railroad Crossings Elimination: At-grade railroad crossings are safety hazards and a major cause of traffic congestion. This grant program helps local communities fund costly separation projects such as bridges or overpasses. The BIL provided $3 billion over 5 years for this program. In June, DOT announced a total of $570 million for projects to eliminate highway-railroad crossings in 32 states including nearly $40.5 million to the City of Washougal, Wash., to eliminate one of the busiest BNSF railroad grade crossings in the state.
• Port Infrastructure Development Program: Washington state’s ports support more than 71,000 direct and 175,000 indirect and induced jobs through international trade. The Port of Tacoma was awarded $54.23 million in PIDP funding last month.
• Mega Projects: Across the United States, there are a number of large projects that are too complicated and expensive for a single state or local government to handle alone, including the Interstate 5 Bridge over the Columbia River. To tackle these large projects, Sen. Cantwell authored the new National Infrastructure Project Assistance (Mega Projects) $5 billion grant program. The second round of awards is expected to be announced in the coming months.
• Airport Infrastructure, Terminal and Air Traffic Control Facility Funds: In addition to securing ATP and AIG funds for airport improvements in the BIL, Sen. Cantwell also secured $5 billion to upgrade Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) air traffic control facilities. $200 million is reserved for FAA-owned contract towers.