‘Early stages of critical failure’: Funding outlook is grim for WA road upkeep

State transportation officials say they are making the limited dollars for highway and bridge preservation stretch as far as they can — but it’s not far enough.

There’s too little money to keep up with repaving roads, repairing aging spans and responding to emergency fixes.

“We are in the early stages of critical failure due to lack of funding,” Troy Suing, director of capital program development and management for Washington State Department of Transportation, told a state panel Tuesday.

“We are doing everything we can to squeeze out as much service life as we can,” he told members of the Washington State Transportation Commission. “We are underfunded. We are forced to be reactive when we look at our assets right now.”

It’s going to take billions of dollars to handle the maintenance and preservation backlog, and “significant additional investment” to get ahead, Suing said in a sobering presentation echoing past messages of agency leaders.

Two years ago, Roger Millar, then department secretary, warned the state transportation system was “on a glidepath to failure” due to continued underfunding of preservation of highways and bridges. Former Gov. Jay Inslee voiced similar concerns, saying lawmakers dumped too much money into new projects in recent years and too little into preserving existing roads.

Earlier this year, the Legislature approved a two-year $15.5 billion budget with $900 million for preservation for the next two years, well shy of the $1.6 billion transportation officials estimated is required to keep pace with regular wear and tear.

Suing, the transportation department official, cataloged some of the challenges.

He said 40% of the state’s lane miles, about 7,900, were due or overdue for paving in 2024. Of those, 670 miles got paved.

This year, the agency decided to spend most of its paving budget in the first half of the biennium, creating a gap when the 2026 construction season arrives. It is preparing to carry out $170 million of additional paving next year, but the work hinges on getting additional funding in the preservation program.

Bridges are another story. Of Washington’s 3,427 spans, 10% are more than 80 years old.

Suing emphasized that “if they’re open, they’re safe” to drive on. That doesn’t mean they don’t need attention. For example, of the roughly 100 steel bridges due for painting, fewer than 10 got done in 2024.

When an emergency occurs that potentially requires closure, the effects ripple through communities.

A semitruck crash in August caused millions of dollars in damage to the White River Bridge connecting eastern King and Pierce counties. As repairs began, the span was entirely closed for weeks, then reopened to alternating traffic. It is expected to fully reopen in the coming weeks.

On the other hand, the Carbon River Bridge won’t reopen anytime soon. In April, the state permanently closed the 103-year-old structure on State Route 165 due to severe, unexpected deterioration of its steel supports. It provided access to Mount Rainier National Park’s Mowich Lake Entrance, Carbon River Ranger Station and other outdoor recreation areas.

“When we don’t preserve the system, it affects everybody,” Suing said. “This is a long-term commitment. There is no short-term fix when it comes to bridges.”

Last month, Washington State Department of Transportation Secretary Julie Meredith sketched the agency’s multi-billion-dollar need in her formal submission for the 2026 supplemental budget. She didn’t ask her boss, Gov. Bob Ferguson, for more money to address unfunded and underfunded “critical needs.”

In a Sept. 15 letter, she explained that her budget request reflects “a constrained approach” that sought funds only for such things as fuel rate changes and utility and insurance cost increases that occurred since adoption of the biennial spending plan in April.

But she included two documents showing that nearly $1.5 billion more per year is needed for preservation, operations and maintenance, and safety programs collectively. And billions more on top of that are required to keep Washington State Ferries afloat and to remove or replace culverts that pose barriers for migrating salmon.

“Critical needs remain unfunded,” she wrote. In the area of preservation alone, she warned that decades of underfunding “put the health of our existing [transportation] system in jeopardy” and led to “more frequent and severe failures and diverting resources to emergency fixes.“

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