Governor Chris Gregoire's Comments on the Overpass Project

Washington Governor Chris Gregoire
Olympia, Washington, March 23, 2009

Question:  Governor, how about a quick moment on the “Microsoft bridge?”  What do you think about the federal stimulus dollars going to that?  And obviously some watchdog groups have raised some concerns, saying, you know, Microsoft should pay for their own bridge.

Governor Gregoire:  I certified that project today, so I’m clear on my position.

That project met all of the criteria.  It’s on a point scale, and it got 100 points, which is the maximum number of points.

You know, I ask myself ‘are we talking about something that’s a question of the merits of this project, or is this some big political question?’

I see no question on the merits.  It isn’t about Microsoft.  It’s about reducing congestion.  It’s about multiple employers.  It’s about thousands of employees and residents.  It’s about taking people off the congestion we have in that interchange on [State Route] 520 now, where we literally have a problem in that people have to go 2 miles rather than two-tenths of a mile which that bridge would produce. 

So, I don’t understand the question on the merits.  If it’s a question on politics, that should be taken to Washington, D.C. on the stimulus package, not on this specific project.

And as Paula [Hammond, Washington Secretary of Transportation] often reminds me, she can count on one hand and with fingers left over how many projects in this state actually have private participation. 

Almost 50 percent of that project is privately funded.  That’s leveraging dollars.  That’s what we’re trying to do, is to use private sector dollars with stimulus dollars and get a bigger bang for the buck.  So I certified it.

(To Secretary Hammond) You want to add…?

Secretary Hammond:  This is a part of the Overlake Business Center plan that’s been in place for many, many years.  Not only Microsoft but Nintendo, Honeywell, Sears, there’s a lot of retail in that area.

Over 42,000 jobs are in that area.

We’d just as soon not have them in the 520 interchanges, mucking that up, but to use the bridge that now will connect between the business center on both sides of the 520 freeway.

So, this is a good project.  Eleven million dollars of stimulus will leverage a $36.5 million project, and Microsoft has something like $17 million that they are contributing. 

So it’s a win-win all around.  It’s going to help with the job growth of that business center, and it’s going to help us keep our freeway less congested.

Governor Gregoire:  And the forecast for that area, in terms of congestion, is pretty bad.  So we could wait ‘til we’ve completely stopped, or we could get going now and prevent what’s going to be a very difficult area in terms of traffic.