Speaking to a large crowd of South Puget Sound residents visiting Washington, D.C. this week, Sen. Maria Cantwell spoke about the importance of transportation funding, especially in the freight sector.

“State Route 167 is the national poster child for smart freight investments,” she said. “We need real freight dollars in the next surface transportation authorization bill so that we can get projects like this done.”

There may be hope on the way.

The U.S. Senate Environment and Publics Works Committee is scheduled next week to mark-up its version of a transportation bill. It remains unclear whether the package will contain funding tools that could be used to pay for projects like SR 167.

However, given the legislative gridlock that has plagued Congress the last few years, it is pretty amazing that Congress might actually begin work on a transportation bill before the state Legislature does.