The Senate Transportation Committee recently convened for a work session to review the 2021 transportation budget and other transportation-related COVID-19 impacts.
Nonpartisan staff reported that the 2021 transportation budget will be heavily influenced by impacts to major transportation revenue sources and on the state’s transportation infrastructure. These revenue sources will take multiple years to recover
from COVID-19-related impacts. The state projects that gas consumption will take at least six years to recover and ferry passenger ridership will take up to seven years. However, toll revenue, ferry ridership, and rental car revenue should return
to pre-pandemic levels between 2024 and 2025.
The 2021 supplemental transportation budget submitted to the Governor’s office shows significant underspending and saving:
- Furloughs & wage increase cancellations: $15 million in savings
- Reduced fuel use: $17 million in savings
- Reduced ferry/rail service, hiring freezes, and other agency actions: $59 million in savings
- Capital spending down: $729 million in savings across WSDOT programs
While the COVID-19-related transportation revenue loss is significant, the state predicts that the 2019-21 transportation budget can still be balanced due to the significant reduction in spending. However, not all accounts were balanced for the 2021-23
biennium.
The 2021-23 biennial budget will incorporate the restoration of I-976 revenue losses, but the state will still need to make significant adjustments to a tune of $1 billion to balance the budget. While the biennial budget includes monies from project re-appropriations
and executive agency budget reductions, the state faces both the critical need for basic transportation infrastructure maintenance and preservation, and the growing cost of addressing fish blocking culverts (a roughly $3.1 billion cost to the state).