3 States Seek $1 Billion for U.S. 101 Work

A committee of local officials from Oregon, Washington and California is seeking $1 billion in federal funding to improve U.S. 101 along the coasts of the three states.

The Tri-State Highway 101 Council met Thursday in Newport and adopted a resolution agreeing to seek the funds as a means of improving the economies of coastal communities. The council represents 54 counties, cities, ports and development groups in the three states.

Council Chairman Henry Pritchard, a member of the Humboldt County, Calif., Board of Supervisors, said $1 billion in federal highway dollars would attract the necessary state matching money.

“We can rebuild the coastal economy if we have a strong 101,” he said.

Could Be Costly

Failure to improve the coastal transportation network could cost coastal economies $3 billion over the next 10 years, he said.

Pritchard said there is a $20-billion reserve fund being held by the U.S. Transportation Department that could be tapped for the projects.

However, Dale Wilken of the Oregon office of the Federal Highway Administration said the reserve is substantially less than $20 billion. He said the reserve came from interest revenue and from projects that were budgeted and then held up by the Gramm-Rudman deficit reduction law.

Wilken added that the federal interstate highway program will be phased out by 1992, with construction funds after that limited to “federally significant routes.”

“Then you’re lying to the public,” Pritchard responded. “You told us the 9-cents-a-gallon tax was to build highways, and you’re not letting us do that.”

Widen Portions

Alan Rand of the California Transportation Commission said his agency needs $600 million to expand and widen stretches of U.S. 101 and replace coastal stretches that have eroded.

Oregon officials said they had to increase the amount of state matching funds to obtain enough money to replace the Alsea Bridge at Waldport, a $45-million project.