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Anacortes holds first public hearing on 2026 Transportation Improvement Program
Summary
At a June 16 City Council meeting the council held the first of two public hearings on Ordinance 5001, the six‑year Transportation Improvement Program (TIP) that schedules projects, costs and potential funding sources; staff said portions of the program are unfunded and recommended further clarifications to the presentation.
Anacortes City Council held the first public hearing on Ordinance 5001, the annual Transportation Improvement Program for 2026, on June 16, 2025, with Public Works Director Andy Rayam presenting the draft and answering council questions.
The TIP is required by state law to be updated annually and approved by a public hearing and ordinance, Rayam said, and it sets the city’s project schedule, estimated costs and funding sources for the next six years.
Rayam told the council the draft includes recurring annual programs — overlays, sidewalk repair, bike and pedestrian improvements — and specific capital projects such as the Ninth Street downtown-to‑marina pedestrian link, Kansas Avenue corridor design, Commercial Avenue safety and rechannelization work, and a multimodal trail on Oaks Avenue. He said some projects in the first three years have funding identified and many others remain reliant on grant funding and are therefore shown as unfunded later in the six‑year table.
Council members asked for clearer presentation of the table’s funding status. Councilmember Walters recommended a legend and consistent shading to distinguish funded cells from those that rely on potential grants; Councilmember Fantini and others asked that the Kansas Avenue entries better reflect corridor-scale design needs rather than a single block. Rayam said the $450,000 design estimate covers the block the city intends to build and a preliminary corridor design to determine needed collector upgrades.
Councilmembers and Rayam discussed specific line items: the annual pavement management program ($1.8 million per year in the draft), a South Commercial Avenue paving effort planned for the current year, and the use of identified grants such as TIB or Safe Routes to School for some projects. Rayam confirmed the table lists anticipated grant sources on the right column when staff believes grant funding is a likely source, but those amounts are not locked until grants are awarded.
Members of the council also asked that the TIP and the Capital Facilities Plan present more harmonized project descriptions and funding details so the public can compare the same projects across documents. Rayam agreed staff would work to clarify wording and color coding before the next hearing.
The hearing remained open; no final ordinance vote was taken at the June 16 meeting. Rayam invited council and the public to submit comments before the second hearing and return with suggested edits next week.
Council action: public hearing and discussion only; council did not vote on Ordinance 5001 at this meeting.
