Several North Olympic Peninsula projects could receive funding as part of $140 million earmarked for Washington state transportation improvements by a Senate subcommittee.

The funds, approved Thursday, came as no surprise with Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., now at the helm of the transportation subcommittee of the Appropriations Committee.

The funding package includes appropriations for the Olympic Discovery Trail, Hood Canal Bridge and Clallam Transit.

In the transportation bills for the past two years, the state received $68 million and $50 million, respectively.

This year, Murray sought $7 million to start construction on a 10.4-mile road link between Interstate 90, U.S. Highway 2 and U.S. Highway 395 in Spokane.

She also sought $1.6 million for the Olympic Discovery Trail, a recreational path more than 100 miles long that will eventually link Port Townsend and Forks.

And she supported funding for the U.S. Coast Guard beyond President Bush’s budget request by $45 million. She said the funding would be important for search and rescue operations and drug interdiction.

But the bill did not specifically address funding for the Coast Guard’s Station Quillayute River.

Full details appear in the Friday-Saturday edition of the Peninsula Daily News. Click onto “Subscribe” to have your PDN delivered to your home or office.