TRPC tells Tenino council federal funding hold could affect local projects; urges prompt contracting for West Tenino Trail design

Mark Daley, director of the Thurston Regional Planning Council (TRPC), told the Tenino City Council on Jan. 28 that a temporary hold on federal funds the same morning created uncertainty about which TRPC-funded projects will proceed. Daley said projects already under contract are less likely to be affected and urged Tenino staff to accelerate contracting where possible.

Daley highlighted TRPC's recent programming of about $20 million in federal funds and noted a $225,000 grant awarded for design of the West Tenino Trail (the West 1090 portion). "As soon as we can get that project under contract, we want to get that project under contract," Daley said, stressing that work already under contract is typically safe from holds.

He summarized several other TRPC responsibilities relevant to Tenino: certifying transportation elements of local comprehensive plans under the Growth Management Act (TRPC has developed a checklist to avoid slowing plan adoption); managing rural transit routes (Route 2 expansion between Rainier and Yelm and Saturday service) and the complexities of separate grants for expansion versus base operations; and an emergency detour-route study that identified roughly 50 countywide detour routes and modeled where closures of I-5 or SR-507 would create severe traffic impacts.

Daley also noted a near-$1,000,000 set-aside for trail maintenance in TRPC's most recent call for projects and previewed a bicycle-connectivity strategy TRPC will begin later in the year. He offered TRPC staff assistance for Tenino as projects move toward contract and asked council representatives to stay engaged while TRPC monitors the federal funding situation.