Covington lobbyists summarize 2025 Washington session: Jenkins Creek money, SR 18 funding and a 6¢ gas tax increase

Emily Shea and Brianna Murray, the city-contracted lobbyists who represented Covington in Olympia this year, told the City Council on June 10 that the 2025 legislative session produced several outcomes the city should expect to affect transportation, parks and public safety funding.

The most immediate wins for Covington included a $500,000 capital-budget allocation for the Jenkins Creek Trail and preservation of existing funding for the city’s State Route 516 project. Council members were also told the final transportation budget allocates $15 million to the State Route 18 widening and safety project in the upcoming biennium and $25 million in the next biennium, while the project’s schedule will shift so advertisement occurs in 2029 rather than 2027.

Why this matters: the allocations change the timing and cash flow for two projects long discussed by Covington officials — Jenkins Creek Trail and SR 18 — and the transportation revenue package also changes how local governments receive new gas-tax revenue.

Shea and Murray framed the session as a long, contentious budget year. Shea said the 2025 session lasted 105 days and produced new operating, capital and…