Feds approve $45M in grant funding for Lander Street bridge

South Lander Street is blocked by rail traffic for more than four hours each day, according to the city. A hefty sum of federal grant funding is set to help pay for a bridge over the train tracks that should clear that up and ease congestion in the area. less South Lander Street is blocked by rail traffic for more than four hours each day, according to the city. A hefty sum of federal grant funding is set to help pay for a bridge over the train tracks that should ... more Photo: SDOT Photo: SDOT Image 1 of / 1 Caption Close Feds approve $45M in grant funding for Lander Street bridge 1 / 1 Back to Gallery

Seattle on Wednesday got some good news in the transportation world: A $45 million federal grant to pay for a new piece of infrastructure in Sodo.

The funding award is the largest in Washington state from the U.S. Department of Transportation’s FASTLANE grant program, and will go to build a bridge on South Lander Street over the railroad tracks between First and Fourth Avenue South, according to a news release from Mayor Ed Murray’s office.

Seattle voters already approved $20 million in funding in 2015 through the Move Seattle levy, and U.S. Sens. Patty Murray and Maria Cantwell pushed for the federal funding.

"Washington state’s economy and regional jobs depend on being able to move freight quickly and efficiently," Cantwell, who created the FASTLANE program, said in the release. "At Lander Street alone, Washington state loses $9.5 million a day in economic activity because of train, truck, and urban traffic congestion. By addressing this bottleneck, we will speed up freight movement to the Ports of Seattle and Tacoma, fuel our export economy and generate significant job growth."

Seattle’s Department of Transportation will oversee building the four-lane bridge to smooth out traffic that is blocked by rail traffic for more than 4.5 hours daily, according to the release.

Even with the grant, money from the levy and other funding sources, the project will still be about $40 million shy of its $140 million total price tag.

Provided the city comes up with the rest of the money, the project is slated to break ground in early 2018.

RELATED: Sound Transit completes tunneling for Northgate Link extension

RELATED: $45 billion transit plan headed to voters

Daniel DeMay covers Seattle culture, business and transportation for seattlepi.com. He can be reached at 206-448-8362 or danieldemay@seattlepi.com. Follow him on Twitter: @Daniel_DeMay.

