After being put on hold by the state in light of Initiative 976 passing in November, Covington’s two Connecting Washington Transportation Projects – the widening of State Route 516 and the extension of 204th – have now gotten the green light to proceed with funding as they were included in the state’s transportation budget that recently passed.

In 2019, the state awarded a total of $37.2 million in Connecting Washington funds to two Covington projects, according to a city press release. One was for $24 million for the Covington Connector and another was for $13.2 million for widening State Route 516th from Jenkins Creek to 185th Place. When I-976 was approved by voters in November to reduce car tab fees to $30, the state put a hold on funding the projects while they reassessed the budget and an impending $450 million shortfall.

During the legislative session, the House and the Senate both included Covington’s two projects in their proposed budgets which recently passed.

“We are thrilled that these two important projects were included in the budget,” stated Covington City Manager Regan Bolli in the press release. “We would like to thank our legislators for their hard work to make this happen.”

Work will resume on these two projects immediately.