S-4347               _______________________________________________

                                                   SENATE BILL NO. 6828

                        _______________________________________________

State of Washington                               51st Legislature                              1990 Regular Session

By Senators Rasmussen, Hansen, Barr, Matson and Stratton

Read first time 1/30/90 and referred to Committee on  Transportation.

AN ACT Relating to highways; directing construction of a Naches Pass tunnel; adding new sections to Title 47 RCW; creating a new section; and declaring an emergency.

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF WASHINGTON:

NEW SECTION. Sec. 1.     The legislature finds that:

          (1) The Washington state highway commission and the Washington toll bridge authority, now combined under the department of transportation and the transportation commission, were authorized and directed, originally in 1959, to act jointly with the joint fact-finding committee on highways, streets, and bridges to determine the feasibility of undertaking construction of a Naches cut-off and tunnel on state route No. 410 through the Cascade mountains;

          (2) The state highway commission, toll bridge authority, and the joint fact-finding committee were further authorized and directed to engage and retain an independent engineering firm to prepare traffic, engineering, and financial studies and surveys;

          (3) The state highway commission has been previously granted the necessary authority to acquire rights of way and to proceed with the construction of the Naches tunnel;

          (4) The increased volume of intermountain cross-state traffic in the past thirty years and future projected increases point up the desirability and imperative need for an additional all-weather highway through the Cascade mountains; and such a cross-Cascade connection would greatly enhance the overall economy of the state, speed cross-state travel without mountain pass delays, and enhance the growing tourism and destination resort skiing industries; and

          (5) An all-weather, year-round Cascade crossing would reduce highway traffic fatalities and provide highway transportation and private vehicle time saving between the eastern and western areas of the state, along with transportation fuel economy.

NEW SECTION. Sec. 2.  A new section is added to Title 47 RCW to read as follows:

          The Washington state transportation commission shall complete its plan for a Naches Pass tunnel with dispatch, and the department shall commence immediate construction of a Naches Pass tunnel and cut-off on state route No. 410 through the Cascade mountains.

NEW SECTION. Sec. 3.  A new section is added to Title 47 RCW to read as follows:

          The state department of transportation shall forthwith select and acquire, by purchase or condemnation, such lands as may be necessary to accomplish the directive given in section 2 of this act, and shall forthwith do all other acts and things necessary to carry out the purposes of this act without delay.

NEW SECTION. Sec. 4.     This act is necessary for the immediate preservation of the public peace, health, or safety, or support of the state government and its existing public institutions, and shall take effect immediately.