House Bill 1978 is the state supplemental transportation budget for 2007-09, but it contains an extra $344 million in federal stimulus money.

UPDATE: The governor says she's going to sign the bill at 2 p.m. Thursday.

And of note to Pierce County, it also shifts some federal and state money around. The net effect is to put construction of the second half of the Nalley Valley Viaduct back on schedule.

Gov. Chris Gregoire had proposed delaying construction of the eastbound Nalley Valley bridge until 2013-15. The rewritten budget puts that project back in the 2011-13 time frame.

Here is a link to our TNT home page, which has the story that AP reporter Curt Woodward wrote after the bill passed the House this morning.

Here's a state Senate news release, which also notes the Alaskan Way Viaduct bill the Senate passed a few minutes earlier. See my earlier post with the "greenest guy on the floor of the Senate" headline.

The budget bill goes to the governor. The viaduct bill goes to the House.

Senate passes transportation stimulus and viaduct replacement bills
OLYMPIA — Today the Senate passed one bill identifying projects throughout Washington that will receive the state’s portion of federal transportation stimulus funding and another to approve a deep-bore tunnel replacement for the Alaskan Way Viaduct.

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House Bill 1978, which was passed by the House only hours earlier, includes the list of $344 million worth of “shovel-ready” transportation projects throughout the state that will receive federal stimulus funding. An additional $155 million will go directly to local jurisdictions such as transportation management areas, metropolitan planning organizations and counties, and more than $18.5 billion is available in federal grants.

“There’s a federal requirement that at least half of this money go towards projects that can start within 120 days,” said Sen. Mary Margaret Haugen, D-Camano Island. “This is about using transportation funding to put people to work fast, and we’re going to see people all over the state working on transportation preservation projects and safety enhancements real soon.”

The bill passed on a vote of 45 to 4 and now goes to the governor.

Also passed was Senate Bill 5768, sponsored by Sen. Ed Murray, D-Seattle, to identify a deep-bore tunnel as the design to replace the Alaskan Way Viaduct. Included in the bill are provisions that state funding be used solely to build a replacement tunnel and to remove the existing viaduct structure — not for central seawall or waterfront promenade improvements — and that the City of Seattle must bear all utility relocation costs associated with the project.

“We have a plan and it’s time to move forward,” said Murray.

Although the governor earlier this year announced that the state contribution to the Alaskan Way Viaduct would be $2.8 billion, the Legislature had previously allocated only $2.4 billion. SB 5768 states that the project finance plan must include state funding not to exceed $2.4 billion and must also include at least $400 million in toll revenue — provisions that limit the state’s financial obligation to the project and ease concerns of potential cost overruns being passed on to taxpayers statewide.

“There are no new funds in this bill,” said Murray. “If additional funding is necessary, it will need to be borne by entities other than the state.”

The bill passed on a vote of 43 to 6 and now proceeds to the House of Representatives for consideration.