The latest developments, decisions and changes coming out of our spring board meeting, held in Olympia, WA. The full board meeting minutes will be available here, once approved.
DEVELOPMENTS
- County Engineer Appointments: On March 12, 2026 Mr. Cade Egbert, PE was appointed to be the Grant County Engineer effective April 13, 2026.
- County Engineer Vacancies: Pacific County is still without a permanent County Engineer (since September 2023), Jennifer Oatfield and Richard Drake were appointed as Acting County Engineer Team, and their current 6-month extension is through May 24, 2026. Kittitas County still has an interim County Engineer.
DECISIONS
- Certified Resolution 2026-003 – which approved Annual Certification and issue Certificates of Good Practice to 35 counties, and Conditional Certificates of Good Practice to 4 counties (Ferry, Pacific, Pend Oreille, Walla Walla).
- Certified Resolution 2026-004 - Apportion RATA Funds to Regions which authorized the accrued amount of $4,360,073 made available in the Rural Arterial Trust Account for January, February, and March 2026 be apportioned to the regions by the established 2025-27 regional percentages after setting aside $193,946 for administration.
- Certified Resolution 2026-005 – which approved 2025-2027 RAP Projects and Allocate Remaining 10% of Estimated 2025-2027 RATA Revenue.
- Approved Waiver of Payback for Skagit county.
- Disaster Recovery Program – Board authorized the Executive Director to executive a contract with any county meeting program requirements and requesting a loan; and approved a method of prioritization to be used by CRAB should loan requests exceed available funding.
In the 2026 Supplemental Transportation Budget, the Legislature appropriated $30M from the Move Ahead Washington account “to establish a temporary program to equitably provide financial assistance for county transportation infrastructure damage and impacts from the December 2025 weather events in counties that have met the damage amount indicator for federal public assistance.” The intent of the program is “financial assistance serving as a bridge to when federal reimbursement is available to mitigate the overwhelming nature of the December weather events since it is necessary to respond immediately to ensure appropriate emergency response, continued transportation of people and access to vital services, and the repair of critical infrastructure to allow the transport of goods and services.
This financial assistance will be through a loan to be repaid by any federal funds received by the county as reimbursement for eligible work. The Legislature intends that any work not reimbursed by federal agencies will be included in a separate budget submittal for forgiveness of the unreimbursed amounts.
CRAB is currently beginning communication with the Military Department and Local Programs for coordination. A kickoff meeting with all interested parties is scheduled for May 5th. To be eligible for a DRP loan, a county must first submit a request for either FEMA or FHWA Emergency Relief (ER) funding. Once CRAB has confirmed with the Military Department or Local Programs that federal assistance has been requested, we will contact that county to begin the process of providing a DRP loan. Loans are intended to be 0% interest with the requirement that counties strongly pursue federal reimbursement and not rely solely on the loan.
UPDATES
- Local Road Program – First call for projects was due by April 1, 2026. 100 projects submitted for funds of $59.7M, 17 pedestrian and 83 that were 2R projects. CRAB staff will be reviewing these potential projects this spring and summer for ranking purposes by first week of July, to build an array and rank them for July 30 Board meeting, at which time we hope to adopt the ranking list. We’ve already reviewed 25% of them. 33 of 39 counties submitted projects.
UPCOMING EVENTS
- 2026 County Engineer Training will be held May 12-14 at our office in Olympia, WA. Register here to attend.
- 2026 WSACE Annual Conference will be held in Longview, WA June 9-11, 2026. Register here to attend.
The Board will be hold its next board meeting Thursday, July 30 and Friday July 31, 2026 in at Hilton Garden Inn Wenatchee, WA.
