Traffic Lab is a Seattle Times project that digs into the region’s transportation issues to explore the policies and politics that determine how we get around and how billions of dollars in public money are spent.

The U.S. Department of Transportation doled out $175 million last week to the nation’s many ferry providers, and Washington state received the largest slice of the pie with nearly $40 million.

Most of the state’s funding from the Federal Highway Administration’s Ferry Boat Program went to Washington State Ferries, which got $36 million. Federal dollars also went to the King County Marine Division, which runs the popular West Seattle and Vashon foot ferries, as well as Kitsap Transit, Colville Confederated Tribes and Pierce, Whatcom and Wahkiakum counties.

Washington state’s la

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