County floats $2 toll idea for 520 span

Drivers might start paying tolls on the existing Highway 520 floating bridge within three years if the state joins a federal program to promote traffic reduction.

An application for a federal grant of more than $150 million proposes tolls to reduce traffic congestion but doesn't specify rates. King County officials Thursday mentioned a possible scenario in which drivers would be charged an average of $2 a crossing, or $4 per round trip, with the price fluctuating between busy and off-peak hours.

Tolls would help fund a new six-lane span to replace the four-lane bridge built in 1963.

And as a form of "congestion pricing," tolls would be part of a broader strategy for the bridge that includes more buses and bigger Eastside park-and-ride lots, and encourages telecommuting.

The plan depends on winning the grant. King County, the Puget Sound Regional Council and the state Department of Transportation said Thursday the Highway 520 plan is among nine finalists in the $1.1 billion federal Urban Partners program; five metro areas will win grants.

Although elected officials have long planned to put tolls on a new 520 bridge when it opens in the late 2010s, Thursday's announcement represents the most serious talk to date of charging a toll on the existing bridge.

King County Executive Ron Sims on Thursday described his vision:

"We believe pricing mechanisms reduce congestion. ... We have to give people their lives back. What does that mean? You make it easier to get to work, easier to get home, to play with your kids, meet their needs for piano lessons, soccer lessons.... "

The authority to set tolls rests with the Washington State Transportation Commission. "To be honest, I think it's premature to be looking at any numbers," said Brian Smith, a state DOT planning director for the project.

A new Highway 520 floating bridge is currently estimated to cost $4.4 billion, of which up to $1.2 billion would be from tolls. Officials last month said they were considering an average $6 round-trip rate when the new bridge opens.

State Rep. Judy Clibborn, D-Mercer Island, who chairs the House Transportation Committee, said she has not contemplated charging tolls on the old bridge.

"I am absolutely neutral," she said. "If it was used, it would be to keep the size of the [new] bridge toll down."

Clibborn said that while the grant proposal includes useful ideas, it won't necessarily push lawmakers to endorse congestion pricing.

"Ron Sims is quite a bit more enamored of that than anybody I've talked to in the Legislature. That doesn't mean we're not talking about it — but no one's jumping on the bandwagon quickly," she said.

Sims said the plan would include electronic toll-collection equipment that allows drivers to pay on the move, without stopping at a booth.

The state will launch electronic toll collection next month at the new Tacoma Narrows Bridge, at a price of $3 a round trip, eventually reaching $6.

Next year, the state will try charging variable tolls for lone drivers to enter the high-occupancy lanes of Highway 167 in the Green River Valley.

Besides tolling, the Highway 520 proposal would expand the South Kirkland, Redmond and Brickyard park-and-ride lots, said Ron Posthuma, assistant director for the county transportation department.

The number of bus crossings on the bridge, now 400 a day, would increase by 90 crossings, Posthuma said.

The 520 bridge carries about 115,000 vehicles each weekday. It is clogged several hours a day, and could be destroyed by a strong earthquake or windstorm. A 70-cent toll on the bridge expired in 1979.

Mike Lindblom: 206-515-5631 or mlindblom@seattletimes.com