A compilation of prioritized transportation improvements projects is now ready for public review and comment through Wednesday, Dec. 14, the Washington State Department of Transportation says.

More than 1,400 statewide transportation improvement projects using $5.1 billion in federal funds are included in the 2023-2026 Statewide Transportation Improvement Program, or STIP for short. The draft 2023-2026 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 or Federal Transit Administration funds must be included in the STIP to authorize the expenditure of federal funds. Also included are regionally significant projects funded through the Washington State Legislature’s Connecting Washington and Move Ahead Washington transportation packages.

The comment period for the STIP is the final step of the community engagement process that began locally during development of individual transportation improvement programs. The Washington State Department of Transportation will accept comments until 5 p.m. Wednesday, Dec. 14. Any comments received by WSDOT will be sent to the local agency or metropolitan or regional planning organization for consideration.

The STIP is a four-year, fiscally constrained, prioritized multimodal transportation program of state, local, tribal and public transportation transit projects. It includes highways, streets, roads, railroads, transit-hubs, park-and-ride lots, bridges, sidewalks, bike lanes, ferry terminals, trails and safety projects. The STIP is a calendar-year document and is developed on an annual basis with monthly updates from January through October.

The collaborative effort between WSDOT, local agencies and 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.

A PDF of 2022-25 STIP projects can be viewed online and a searchable database of the 2023-26 STIP will be created in January 2023, following FHWA and FTA approval.

How to comment

Written comments can be sent to: Nancy Huntley or Steve Ahlsten, WSDOT, P.O. Box 47390, Olympia WA 98504-7390, or emailed to: Hqlpstip@wsdot.wa.gov. Comments must be received by 5 p.m., Wednesday, Dec. 14.