Have Questions About This Program?
A New Resource for Counties Recovering from 2025 Flooding!
In December 2025, Washington's counties were hit with a historic atmospheric river that led to severe storms, straight-line winds, flooding, landslides, and mudslides. A major disaster declaration was made in December and approved by federal government in April. While the extent of the infrastructure damage is still being assessed, preliminary information shows that counties experienced $30-50 million in damages.
To quickly deploy funding and hasten recovery efforts, the Legislature created a $30 million temporary loan program during the 2026 session to serve as a bridge for counties. Using an efficient process through our agency, counties will be able to request needed funds to begin critical work right away while they navigate the federal assistance process. Once funds are received through FEMA or FHWA Emergency Relief, the funding will be repaid back to Washington State.
We are proud to do our part to help facilitate restoring the continued transportation of people, access to vital services, and the repair of critical infrastructure to allow the transport of goods and services across the county road system. Updates will be made regularly to this page below as information becomes available.
Eligible Projects
Eligible projects for the program will include county roads and bridges directly related to the severe storms, straight-line winds, flooding, landslides and mudslides.
The work must be...
...of either a temporary or permanent nature, which restores roads and bridges to a pre-emergency condition AND may include reconstruction to current design standards and federal program match requirements.
...directly related to the sudden natural destruction or severe damage to county roadway sections or structures from the December 5-19, 2025 weather events.
...beyond the scope of work done by a county in repairing damage normally or reasonably expected from seasonal or other natural conditions.
...beyond what would be considered maintenance.
Who May Apply
The program is available to counties identified in the Governor's Emergency Proclamation (Asotin, Benton, Chelan, Clallam, Clark, Cowlitz, Franklin, Ferry, Grays Harbor, Island, Jefferson, King, Kittitas, Lewis, Mason, Okanogan, Pacific, Pend Oreille, Pierce, Skagit, Skamania, Snohomish, Spokane, Stevens, Thurston, Wahkiakum, Whatcom, and Yakima Counties) as long as they remain in compliance with the Standards of Good Practice, demonstrated by a current Certificate of Good Practice or Conditional Certificate of Good Practice.
Program Timeline
| STEP | INFORMATION | DATE | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Program Created by Legislature | The Legislature appropriated $30 million for the agency provide financial assistance for county transportation infrastructure damage and impacts from the December 2025 weather events in SB 6005 Sec 301. | March 2026 | |
| Project Prioritization Rules to be Drafted and Approved |
The initial draft proposal for equitably providing financial assistance was developed by the engineering staff to present to the board for review and feedback on April 1, 2026. Additional collaboration began taking place with partners such as WSDOT and the military. |
April 2026 | |
| County Outreach |
Once the rules and project/county limits have been approved, eligible counties will receive informational resources and support from staff as they submit inquiries for program funding. In order to apply for the program, counties must have first submitted a Detailed Damage Inspection Report (DDIR) through their WSDOT Local Programs Regional Engineer to the appropriate federal agency for their project(s). |
August 2026
|
|
| Program Open for Applications | Counties are able to submit streamlined applications for their qualifying project(s) and a DropBox folder will be set up for each applying county to submit their documents. | Ongoing, Beginning August 2026 | |
|
Application Review and Approval |
The staff will review and verify project applications in accordance with the approved rules and issue funds in a lump sum check promptly. |
Ongoing |
|
| Contracts Due |
The agency will require quarterly updates from counties using a quarterly report form in order to report to the Legislature the progress of each project until the loans are repaid. The preliminary due dates for status reports will be.... |
September 11, 2026 |
Funding
$30 million in funding for the program will come from the Move Ahead Washington transportation funding package.
Loan Limits and Reimbursement Details
Loans will be 0% against the requested receipt of federal funds from FEMA and FHWA for emergency project costs.
The financial assistance must be provided as loans against the requested receipt of federal funds from for emergency project costs. Upon receipt of federal funds covering these costs, the county must pay back the loan, deposited into the Motor Vehicle Account.
Upon receipt of federal funds covering these costs, the county must send those funds to CRAB within 90 days of receipt of the federal funds to pay down the loan. Upon completion of all identified projects, any unused loan funds shall be returned to CRAB within 90 days of completion of all projects.
It is the intent of the Legislature that if federal reimbursement for these costs is not provided by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) and the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA), in whole or in part, the remaining loan amounts will be forgiven as specified in an omnibus transportation appropriations act.
