Walla Walla to Complete Four-Lane Expansion on U.S. 12 With $108.5M Federal Grant
Cantwell, Murray announce largest-ever grant from DOT Rural program for final step of decades-long project
WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, U.S. Senator Maria Cantwell (D-WA), ranking member of the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation, and U.S. Senator Patty Murray (D-WA), Vice Chair of the Senate Appropriations Committee, announced that the County of Walla Walla has received $108,547,980 to complete the final section of the U.S. 12 four-lane highway from Wallula to Nine Mile Hill.
“This grant couldn’t have come at a more important time as major manufacturing investments are being considered at the Wallula Gap Business Park. Highway 12 is the transportation backbone of the region, and this infrastructure investment will help it become a manufacturing and economic hub—which is going to bring lots of new, permanent, good-paying jobs,” Sen. Cantwell said.
“It’s a big deal that Walla Walla is taking home the largest-ever award from the Rural federal grant program—over $108 million in federal dollars will go a long way to support this project to widen U.S. 12 to a four-lane highway, a badly needed upgrade for this busy route,” said Sen. Murray. “This project will cut traffic on U.S. 12—giving people their time back—and make our roads safer, as well as improve access for commercial trucks and freight which rely heavily on this highway. I was proud to advocate for this award with the Biden administration and will continue to support this project as it moves forward.”
The project will replace the current two-lane undivided highway with a four-lane divided freeway segment. The expanded four-lane road will include the construction of four-foot shoulders and a 42-foot median and reroute’ s truck traffic away from the center of Wallula. Additionally, roadside safety features such as guardrails and crash cushions will be installed, and intersection and roadway geometry will be improved to meet current standards. The Port of Walla Walla estimates that this increased capacity will help it attract nearly $10 billion in private investment and 2,000 jobs to its Wallula Gap Business Park.
The U.S. 12 expansion project began in 2003. Completing this new section of U.S. 12 highway will benefit residents, businesses, and the traveling public through improved safety, capacity, and mobility. In addition, the regional transportation system between the Tri-Cities and Walla Walla will better support the agriculture and wine industries and other freight traffic critical to Eastern Washington’s economic vitality. Commercial trucks make up as much as 18% of traffic on U.S. 12 in this area, and increasing capacity will reduce slowdowns and improve travel time for freight, tourism, recreational, and commuter traffic. Walla Walla’s wine country is a key driver of tourism in the region -- an estimated 750,000 people visit the city of 33,339 each year. In addition to significant use now, by 2050, traffic volumes on Highway 12 are expected to double.
The funds come from the U.S. Department of Transportation’s (DOT) Rural Surface Transportation Grant Program, under the umbrella of its Multimodal Project Discretionary Grant (MPDG) program. Walla Walla’s U.S. 12 grant is the largest of the MPDG rural grant awards.
Sen. Cantwell is a champion of expanding transportation capacity for the residents and industries that rely on the highway systems east of the Cascades. As then-chair of the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation, she authored the Surface Transportation and Investment Act – which provided $78 billion over five years for multimodal surface transportation projects on our highways and railroads -- and negotiated its inclusion in the 2021 Bipartisan Infrastructure Law. The investments in that legislation have benefited transportation projects across the State of Washington.
As the top Democrat on the powerful appropriations committee and former chair of the Transportation appropriations subcommittee, Sen. Murray has fought year after year to boost investments in our nation’s transportation infrastructure and played a key role in passing the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law as then-Assistant Majority Leader.
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