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Home My WebLink AboutTransportation Authorization MSCSA Letter 5-23-25 May 23, 2025 U.S. Senator Patty Murray U.S. Senator Maria Cantwell U.S. Representative Suzan DelBene U.S. Representative Rick Larsen U.S. Representative Marie Glusenkamp Perez U.S. Representative Dan Newhouse U.S. Representative Michael Baumgartner U.S. Representative Emily Randall U.S. Representative Pramila Jayapal U.S. Representative Kim Schrier U.S. Representative Adam Smith U.S. Representative Marilyn Strickland Dear Members of Congress: We are writing to thank you for your support for transportation and infrastructure funding and your leadership to ensure that smaller- and medium-sized cities have access to critical federal funding to complete the regional transportation projects for our communities. We represent cities that have tremendous infrastructure and transportation needs that make up integral parts of a regional transportation system in Washington State. As Congress considers the 2025 Surface Transportation Reauthorization bill, we ask for your support for key policies that would make critical federal infrastructure funding more available to smaller- and medium-sized cities. Our recommendations below would ensure that each of our communities has a greater opportunity to utilize federal funds to meet our Capital Improvement Plan needs and shared infrastructure and transportation goals. We welcome any questions you have and urge you to support language in the 2025 Surface Transportation Reauthorization that would achieve these goals. Specifically, we support the following in the 2025 Surface Transportation Reauthorization: 1. Create a Medium-Sized City Set-Aside in all federal discretionary grant programs where cities are an eligible applicant. Prior to 2021, no city in Washington State between 10,000 and 100,000 in population size had ever been awarded a BUILD grant (also formerly known as RAISE and TIGER). When Congress last reauthorized the Surface Transportation bill in 2021 it made a major change in the RAISE / BUILD grant program to ensure that half of all awards were directed to cities under 200,000 in population size. This change had an immediate impact in Washington State as seven cities in Washington between 10,000 and 100,000 in population size have been awarded RAISE planning or construction grants since 2022. This critical federal infrastructure grant is now a viable option for cities in Washington State to consider as they build their funding plans for large scale transportation projects. We ask that a similar set aside be created in each of the competitive grant programs authorized under the Surface Transportation Reauthorization to allow communities to Surface Transportation Reauthorization Letter Page 2 of 6 May 23, 2025 compete for critical federal funds on an equitable basis rather than having to compete with larger cities. 2. Adjust the population bands for discretionary grant awards . As mentioned above, the BUILD grant allocates half of all awards be to communities below 200,000 in population size. We support further tightening these bands so that awards are apportioned out to communities that can best compete with each other for critical federal resources. We support competitive funding be set aside for rural populations below 10,000, suburban and rural populations between 10,000 and 100,000 and city populations above 100,000. This change is critical to communities in Washington to ensure that equitable access to federal transportation funding remains available. In Washington, there are only nine cities above 100,000 in population size and 124 cities between 10,000 and 100,000 in population size. Population allocation bands under our proposed model would create competitive and equitable allocations of federal resources to meet local infrastructure and transportation goals across all communities. 3. Adjust federal funding obligation deadlines to account for federal delays in review. Many cities are experiencing problems with federal funding obligation deadlines running up against federal agency review timelines, putting federal funding at risk. Federal funding shouldn’t be lost due to federal delays in review. We ask that language be included in the Surface Transportation Reauthorization bill that automatically extends the obligation deadline for federal grant funding where the delay in caused solely by the federal review process. Congress has historically recognized the need to equitably fund infrastructure by creating rural set- asides and population bands within Surface Transportation funding. We request that you extend these policies into codified set-asides so that medium-sized cities, too, can access these critical federal funds on a competitive and equitable basis. Thank you for your consideration of this request and please contact any of us directly with any questions. Sincerely, Mayor Kyoko Matsumoto Wright Mayor Mason Thompson City of Mountlake Terrace City of Bothell Snohomish County King and Snohomish Counties Population 21,671 Population 51,575 Surface Transportation Reauthorization Letter Page 3 of 6 May 23, 2025 Mayor Chris Roberts Mayor Peter Donovan City of Shoreline City of Mount Vernon King County Skagit County Population 63,045 Population 35,227 Mayor Jason Whalen Mayor Kathy Hayden City of Lakewood City of Sumner Pierce County Pierce County Population 64,620 Population 10987 Mayor Kim Roscoe Mayor Ronald Frederick City of Fife City of DuPont Pierce County Pierce County Population 11,320 Population 9,565 Mayor Ronnie Wright Mayor Dontae Payne City of Oak Harbor City of Olympia Skagit County Thurston County Population 23,610 Population 55,733 Surface Transportation Reauthorization Letter Page 4 of 6 May 23, 2025 Mayor Javier Figueroa Mayor Greg Wheeler City of University Place City of Bremerton Pierce County Kitsap County Population 35,970 Population 46,667 Mayor Joe Marine Mayor Matt Miller City of Mukilteo City of Anacortes Snohomish County Skagit County Population 20,674 Population 18,231 Mayor Troy McCoy Mayor Eric Onisko City of Battle Ground City of Shelton Clark County Mason County Population 23,232 Population 11,052 Mayor Jeff Wagner Mayor Jon Nehring City of Covington City of Marysville King County Snohomish County Population 22,000 Population 73,000 Mayor Katherine Ross Mayor Mary Barber City of Snoqualmie City of Gig Harbor King County Pierce County Population 13,052 Population 12,604 Surface Transportation Reauthorization Letter Page 5 of 6 May 23, 2025 Mayor Greg Hansen Mayor Mike Millman City of Ferndale City of Woodinville Whatcom County King County Population 16,571 Population 13,000 Mayor Julia Johnson Mayor Kevin Schilling City of Sedro-Woolley City of Burien Skagit County King County Population 13,256 Population 49,890 Mayor Rich Elliott Mayor Rebecca Erickson City of Ellensburg City of Poulsbo Kittitas County Kitsap County Population 20,970 Population 13,100 Mayor Douglas Orr Mayor Kate Dexter City of Aberdeen City of Port Angeles Grays Harbor County Clallam County Population 17,004 Population 20,101 Mayor Brent Gerry Mayor Thomas French City of West Richland City of Lake Forest Park Benton County King County Population 19,834 Population 13,276 Surface Transportation Reauthorization Letter Page 6 of 6 May 23, 2025 Mayor Mike Rosen Mayor Nigel Herbig City of Edmonds City of Kenmore Snohomish County King County Population 42,615 Population 24,350 Mayor Terry Carter Mayor Matt Cole City of Bonney Lake City of Ridgefield Pierce County Clark County Population 22,842 Population 17,819 Mayor Andy Ryder Mayor Francis Benjamin City of Lacey City of Pullman Thurston County Whitman County Population 60,210 Population 33,680