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Transportation

Thursday, July 24, 2008
Last updated 12:32 a.m. PT

520 tolls may stretch from I-5 to Bellevue

And two options won't let you drive free on I-90

By LARRY LANGE
P-I REPORTER

Travelers using the Evergreen Point Bridge could pay tolls ranging from $2.95 to $3.80 one-way during the evening peak-traffic commute to help finance a new span, under options being studied by a state toll committee.

And drivers might also be charged a small toll to drive on state Route 520 on either side of the bridge without crossing Lake Washington: between 40 cents and 80 cents each way between Interstate 5 and Montlake Boulevard in Seattle and between 92nd Avenue Northeast and Bellevue Way Northeast on the Eastside.

Those are among the ideas being examined by the 520 Tolling Implementation Committee, which made them public while meeting Wednesday in Bellevue as part of a study ordered by the Legislature.

tolls graphic

The results, which are months from being made final, included a range of prices and effects on traffic. Several questions were raised about the four tolling options initially studied, including two that suggested tolling the Interstate 90 Bridge as well as the 520 span.

Lawmakers, who will get a report from the committee in January, have assumed that between $1.5 billion and $2 billion of the new bridge's cost could be paid by tolls to make up a cash shortfall for the project. A new six-lane bridge is estimated to cost between $3.7 billion and $3.9 billion.

State Treasurer Mike Murphy has said both the 520 and I-90 bridges should be tolled in order to keep financing viable for a new 520 Bridge, but one transportation activist predicted a backlash if tolls are charged for both bridges and imposed before the new 520 Bridge is completed as some propose.

"I just think the public reaction to that is going to be very bad," said Jim Horn, former state senator and president of the Eastside Transportation Association, a pro-highway and bus group.

A ballot measure to provide more than $1.1 billion in local taxes toward the new bridge cost was rejected in November by voters in the urban areas of King, Pierce and Snohomish counties.

The earliest a toll could be in place is 2010. The new bridge is planned to be in place by 2014 with the entire project including shoreside improvements to be done in 2016.

The committee is taking public comments through Aug. 31.

The four tolling scenarios examined so far include:

Imposing tolls in 2016 only on 520 when the new bridge and shoreside improvements are completed, including a $3.80 one-way evening peak-hour commute toll. As drivers opt for other routes or times or chose transit, the study estimates peak afternoon crossing speeds on 520 would dramatically increase but speeds would slow on I-90 and state Route 522, compared with conditions without tolls. Morning commute-hour tolls would be $3.05 one-way with lower tolls ranging to 90 cents overnight. Estimated money raised to pay 30-year bonds: $835 million. The landside segment tolls would be 40 cents to 80 cents each way but would not be part of a toll to completely cross Lake Washington.

Imposing tolls on 520 in 2010, before the project is done, and on I-90 in 2016. The study by the Puget Sound Regional Council estimated this would raise the most money, $2.5 billion, charging peak-hour one-way tolls of $2.60 in the morning peak and $3.25 in the evening peak, also with cheaper off-peak charges. The study estimates 520 and I-90 speeds would increase with tolls as 19 percent to 22 percent of travelers avoid the lake crossing and others cross between peak times, take buses or join car pools. But SR 522 speeds would slow by 2016. The study assumed landside segment tolls of 40 cents to 75 cents.

Imposing tolls on both bridges in 2016, which the study estimated would raise $2.3 billion. Peak tolls also would be $2.60 in the morning and $3.25 in the evening and 40- to 75-cent landside segment tolls, with similar effects on traffic on the two bridges and SR 522 as drivers changed tactics.

Imposing tolls on the current 520 Bridge in 2010, raising an estimated $900 million. Peak-hour tolls would be $2.15 in the morning and $2.95 in the evening. This, and adding a 75-cent overnight toll after 2016, would have similar effects on traffic, though fewer drivers would avoid crossings. Analysts didn't include landside segment tolls in this concept.

Both I-90 bridge tolling concepts assume charging Mercer Island residents half the regular toll rates because they're dependent on the bridge to get out of their city, said regional council planner Charlie Howard.

None of the possible toll rates have been approved, said committee spokesman Rick Olson, and the final OK must come from the Legislature. Officials said the initial toll ideas were developed for "planning purposes," to judge how drivers might change their commuting habits, but could change.

The two scenarios that raise more than $2 billion appear to support Murphy's argument that both bridges should be tolled, but committee members said the Legislature will decide whether that's to be done.

"That's another decision we'll have to make," said Richard Ford, a transportation commission member who also is a toll committee member. Charging the tolls before the bridge is completed hasn't been the norm in the state; it wasn't done before the new Tacoma Narrows Bridge was opened last year and some have questioned doing it on Lake Washington. Officials justified the idea by saying it would produce more money and relieve traffic as some drivers change their habits.

Asked why drivers should pay to drive on 520 segments on each side of the bridge, Olson said it could be to pay for the complete bridge project, which includes improvements west to I-5 and east to I-405 as well as replacing the bridge itself. "The idea is that people would pay a portion of the cost to receive the benefits," he said.

Tolls are expected to be collected electronically. Drivers would have special accounts using electronic transponders to track crossings and total charges. Others could be billed based on video license plate scannings, according to materials circulated by the committee.

Weekend tolls under consideration would range from 75 cents to $1.50 each way under each of the four alternatives examined so far. Midday tolls, charged between 9 a.m. and 3 p.m., would range from $1.05 to $2.10 each direction. Possible overnight tolls, charged between 10 p.m. and 5 a.m., would range from zero to 90 cents each way, though the options under study now assume there'd be no tolls between 10 p.m. and 5 a.m. on the bridge until 2016.

Tolls of 35 cents each way were charged on the bridge starting when it opened in 1963 and until mid-1979, when the financing bonds were repaid. According to a committee summary, 35 cents in 1963 would equate to about $2.50 today and 35 cents in 1979 would equal about $1.05 today based on the Consumer Price Index.

I-5 TO MONTLAKE

UP TO

80�

EACH DIRECTION

I-5 TO I-405

UP TO

$3.80

EACH DIRECTION

BELLEVUE WAY TO 92ND

UP TO

80�

EACH DIRECTION

115,000

The number of vehicles officials estimate use the 520 Bridge each day.

$1.5 BILLION

Low estimate of how much tolls could contribute to a new bridge.

PUBLIC HEARINGS

To learn more about proposed 520 Bridge tolling, you can attend the following forums:

BOTHELL

July 29: 5 to 7:30 p.m., UW Bothell North Creek Events Center, 11125 N.E. 180th St.

RENTON

July 31: 5 to 7:30 p.m., Spirit of Washington Events Center, 233 Burnett Ave. S., Renton

SEATTLE

Aug. 5: 5 to 7:30 p.m., Naval Reserve at South Lake Union, 860 Terry Ave. N.

BELLEVUE

Aug. 6: 5 to 7:30 p.m., Bellevue City Hall, 450 110th Ave. N.E.

KIRKLAND

Aug. 7: 5 to 7:30 p.m., Kirkland Performance Center, 350 Kirkland Ave.

ON THE WEB

For more information, visit build520.org

TO SEND COMMENTS

E-MAIL info@build520.org

POSTAL

520 Tolling Implementation Committee

c/o Puget Sound Regional Council

1011 Western Ave., Suite 500

Seattle, WA 98104-1035

P-I reporter Larry Lange can be reached at 206-448-8313 or larrylange@seattlepi.com. Read his Traffic Watch blog at blog.seattlepi.com/seattletraffic.

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