WSDOT’s new multi-modal four-year program of transportation projects ready for review

The Washington State Department of Transportation (WSDOT) has released the draft of its annual Statewide Transportation Improvement Program (STIP), which is developed from local agency, metropolitan and regional transportation improvement programs.

This compilation of prioritized transportation improvement projects is now ready for review and public comment.

The draft 2020-2023 STIP is a four-year program of multimodal transportation projects identified through state, metropolitan, regional, tribal and local agency planning processes. Projects identified as using Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) or Federal Transit Administration (FTA) funds must be included in the STIP in order to authorize the expenditure of federal funds. More than 1,200 statewide transportation improvement projects using $3.4 billion in federal funds are included in the 2020-23 STIP.

The comment period is the final step of the community engagement process that began locally during development of the individual transportation improvement programs. Comments will be accepted until Dec. 17. WSDOT will send any comments it receives to the local agency, metropolitan or regional planning organization for their consideration.

About the STIP

The STIP is a four-year, fiscally constrained, prioritized multimodal transportation program of state, local, tribal and public transportation projects. The STIP includes highways, streets, roads, railroads, transit-hubs, park-and-ride lots, bridges, sidewalks, bike lanes, ferry terminals, trails and safety projects.

The collaborative effort between WSDOT, local agencies, metropolitan and regional planning organizations ensures projects are consistent with local, regional and state long-range plans. Some county projects are not included in the draft STIP because state law requires counties to complete their transportation improvement programs by the end of the year; those projects are amended into the final STIP in January.

The current 2019-2022 STIP can be viewed online and a similar, searchable database of the 2020-23 STIP will be created in January 2020, following FHWA and FTA approval.

The 2019-2022 STIP was approved in January 2019 as required per the Federal Transportation Act. Approximately 1,500 statewide transportation improvement projects utilizing $3.9 billion in federal funds are in the 2019-22 STIP statewide.