By Pepper Fisher
CLALLAM COUNTY – We’ve reported this week on the $25 million in federal funding to be spent this year on broadband infrastructure in Clallam County. Now comes the news from Rep. Derek Kilmer’s office of another $7 million from the Army Corps of Engineers to do some important repair work at Ediz Hook in Port Angeles and the sea dike at the mouth of the Quillayute River in Clallam County.
The funding is made available through Congress’ passage of the massive Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA). Rep. Kilmer says, in the case of Ediz Hook, the revetment work is sorely needed.
We know, particularly for coastal communities, we have real resilience challenges. And so having the Army Corp step up and fund some projects in our neck of the woods is a big deal. You know, we’ve heard from the Army Corps that there have been concerns around winter storms that have had an impact at Ediz Hook. That is a concern, not just for the city, but for the Coast Guard and for some of the local employers that are on the Hook.”
Kilmer says, in all, the Army Corps will invest over $18 million in three infrastructure projects in his sixth congressional district, with work also slated to repair the North Jetty in Grays Harbor County.
In addition to all that, Kilmer’s office also announced that he has secured $121 million to fix bridges in Washington starting this year, part of a total of a $605 million investment over the next five years.
The USDOT has identified 416 bridges in our state that are considered to be in poor condition. This is the most significant investment in repairing and replacing bridges since the creation of the interstate highway system. What that means to us locally is replacing and repairing bridges that are important for people getting to work, for kids getting to school, for moving commerce, for connecting our communities, not to mention the fact that when we invest in these projects, it’s we’re also investing in the creation of good jobs, actually doing the work.”
Included locally in the new bridge projects will be the Highway 101 bridge over the Sol Duc River in Clallam County, as well as multiple projects in Grays Harbor County, Jefferson County, Mason County and Kitsap County.
The funding is a little different than we’ve seen before in the way that states and even counties and towns can use them. The Infrastructure Law includes an incentive for states to direct the new funds to so-called off-system bridges owned by a counties, cities or towns, which normally have had to come up with matching funds to get federal dollars.
There’s a lot of our communities that just don’t have the financial wherewithal to provide matching funding for some of these projects. As you know, I represent a district that has a lot of communities that are pretty strapped financially. And so, one of the important elements of this new law is that federal funds can be used to cover 100% of repairing some of these systems. That’s a big deal because it means that we could see some projects move forward that might not have otherwise been able to move forward.”
The bipartisan Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act was signed into law by President Biden on November 15, 2021.
More details on how the bipartisan infrastructure law will impact Washington state can be found at kilmer.house.gov/infrastructure.
(Photo: Rep. Kilmer surveys flood damage along SR 112)