SAN FRANCISCO — Washington Gov. Chris Gregoire will push for a toll-financing plan to fund a replacement for the Evergreen Point Bridge between Seattle and Bellevue.
Under the plan she unveiled last week, toll payers would finance about half of the $4 billion replacement cost of the bridge, with the balance funded through existing state and federal sources.
The pontoon bridge carries State Route 520 across Lake Washington, linking Seattle with Bellevue and other communities east of the lake. The full corridor between Interstate 5 in the west and Interstate 405 in the east is six miles long.
Transportation officials say the existing bridge, built in the 1960s, is vulnerable to earthquakes and windstorms, as well as being inadequate for today’s traffic levels.
The replacement bridge would be much safer, they say, and also would increase capacity from the present two lanes in each direction by adding an additional high-occupancy vehicle lane connecting I-5 and I-405.
Gregoire favors a variable-toll congestion-pricing plan.
“If it is cheaper to travel at a less congested time, drivers may be likely to change the timing of their trip, or if they have to travel at a peak time they may be more likely to carpool or use transit,” Gregoire said when she announced the plan last week at an event with politicians from both sides of the lake.
As part of a federal congestion-pricing initiative, the U.S. Department of Transportation in 2007 offered the Seattle region a $139 million grant to be awarded if tolls are imposed on the Evergreen Point Bridge.
The bridge was tolled from 1963 until 1979, when the tolls were removed after retirement of the revenue bonds that financed bridge construction.
Washington state reentered the toll arena in 2007 when it began levying a toll at the Tacoma Narrows Bridge, after it opened a brand new bridge to supplement the exiting Tacoma Narrows span.
Unlike Tacoma Narrows, the new tolls would take effect as soon as next year, long before the replacement span is opened — something currently envisioned for 2018.
Dan Swecker, ranking Republican on the Senate Transportation Committee, said Gregoire was putting the cart ahead of the horse.
“While the governor today offered a proposal dealing with how to pay for a new bridge, the real issue is what the new bridge will look like and how much it will cost,” he said. “We need to first nail down the bridge design and cost before we figure out how to pay for it.”
Lawmakers are unlikely to consider toll legislation during this year’s short, 60-day session, according to published reports.
In 2009, lawmakers will have a full session, following elections this fall that are expected to include a rematch of the razor-thin 2004 contest between Gregoire and Republican Dino Rossi.
Democrats have solid control of both houses of the Legislature.
