This bill makes numerous changes to Washington transportation law to protect and promote active transportation (walking, running, people using mobility assistive devices, bicycling including electric-assisted bikes, and small personal devices) and to require transportation project planning and design to account for nonmotorized users. It amends existing statutes to prohibit construction of a limited access highway that severs an existing recreational trail or shared-use path unless an acceptable alternative is provided at the time of construction, and requires agencies proposing such highways to acquire right-of-way to accommodate planned trails when no satisfactory alternative exists. For non‑limited access highways the bill requires safety signing where roads cross trails, replacement land or facilities when reconstruction destroys a trail’s usefulness, and incorporation of pedestrian, equestrian, and bicyclist facilities into corridor designs where joint use, plan conformity, connections, and segregation would enhance safety. The Washington State Department of Transportation and local authorities are expressly authorized to expend funds received under RCW 46.68.090 for planning, design, construction, operation, and maintenance of active transportation facilities, and agencies must consider public safety and plan inclusion before establishing shared‑use paths. The bill adds and revises definitions and traffic rules, including a new statutory definition of “roundabout” and specific rules for how “crosswalk” and “intersection area” are measured in roundabout contexts, amends lane‑use rules to address multi‑lane roadways and allows commercial motor vehicles to deviate as needed to approach and drive through a roundabout, and repeals the prior statute for “circular intersection.” It reenacts and amends certain definitional provisions (including a broad definition of active transportation), and adopts “complete streets” and “safe system approach” language to guide planning and design. It also requires the department to incorporate complete streets principles into state transportation projects that meet specified design‑start dates and cost thresholds, with consultation, ADA and bicycle accommodations, speed management consideration, and limited authority to accept or financially participate in local or tribal projects; emergent emergency repairs are exempt and the complete streets requirement does not create a private right of action. The bill creates a new Sandy Williams connecting communities program within the department, establishes a dedicated program account, requires the department to select projects to propose to the legislature using listed criteria (including service to overburdened and vulnerable communities, transit access, crash history, tribal considerations, and use of minority and women‑owned businesses), requires reporting to legislative transportation committees beginning December 1, 2022 and annually thereafter, and directs quarterly transfers beginning September 2027 of $3,125,000 from the multimodal transportation account to the program account. It also requires the department to create a bicyclist and pedestrian grant program, lists eligible project types, permits the department to condition state right‑of‑way changes funded by grants on compliance with complete streets requirements, and requires annual reporting on projects funded under those grant programs. These are statutory amendments, additions of definitions, creation of new programs and an account, a repeal of one prior definition statute, and procedural and funding authorizations and requirements; the bill does not create new crimes or change criminal penalties in the text provided. Several listed amendments and definition texts are incomplete or truncated in the extracted material (including portions of RCW 46.61.135 and other cited sections), and some selection criteria and program implementation details referenced in the bill summary are not fully shown here.

If enacted, the bill will push the state and local transportation agencies to routinely plan, pay for, and build sidewalks, shared‑use paths, crosswalks, and other active transportation features as part of highway and roadway projects. Agencies (notably WSDOT and counties/cities) can use funds from RCW 46.68.090 for planning, design, construction, operation, and maintenance of those facilities, must avoid permanently severing existing trails or hold right‑of‑way for planned trails when building limited‑access highways, and will need to add design, consultation, and sometimes land acquisition up front; local jurisdictions or tribes generally pick up ongoing maintenance for improvements they accept. The bill also creates new grant programs and a Sandy Williams connecting communities program with a dedicated account that will receive $3,125,000 quarterly from the multimodal account starting in September 2027, requires regular reporting to the legislature, and lets the department require grant recipients to follow complete streets rules when work affects state rights‑of‑way. Communities that will most see changes are pedestrians, bicyclists, people using mobility devices, overburdened and vulnerable populations, tribal communities, and local governments that apply for or receive funds; some important implementation details and selection or funding timing before 2027 are not fully shown in the extracted facts.