House Bill 1559 would repeal legislation that passed along party lines in 2023
Rep. John Ley filed his first bill as a new Washington state legislator on Wednesday. It aims to prevent tolling as part of the I-5 Bridge Replacement Project. House Bill 1559 would repeal legislation that passed along party lines in 2023. Senate Bill 5765 authorized the Legislature to impose tolls to help pay for the project.
Proponents argue tolls are an important way to pay for a new bridge. However, the exact mechanisms have yet to be determined, and opponents argue tolling has many downsides.
“Tolling is a hugely regressive tax, harming hard-working, low- and middle-income families the most,” said Ley, R-Vancouver, who represents the 18th District. “It is currently estimated tolls could cost $2,350 per year for an individual crossing the bridge two times a day. Freight haulers and businesses crossing multiple times a day would pay much more.
“We don’t need to create ‘roads for the rich’ or ‘Lexus lanes’ where only wealthy people can afford to use the tolled bridge.”
The total cost of the bridge project is expected to be between $5 billion and $7.5 billion, with tolls anticipated to cover between $1.1 and $1.6 billion of the project.
If HB 1559 were to become law, it would remove tolling authority on Interstate 5 bridges spanning the Columbia River.
In addition to the cost, there are also huge concerns regarding traffic diversion. In the failed Columbia River Crossing project in 2014, it was estimated that 35,000 vehicles a day would divert to the un-tolled I-205 Glenn Jackson Bridge.
“That bridge is already congested and will become a parking lot, as people naturally will seek to avoid paying the tolls,” said Ley. “East-west corridors will become even more congested, including SR-14, Mill Plain, and SR-500 on the Vancouver side. Marine Drive, I-84, and US 30B/Lombard streets in Portland will be affected as well. Public safety and the quality of life in many neighborhoods on both sides of the Columbia River will be negatively impacted.”
Additionally, the cost of collecting the money for tolls is estimated to be between 19 and 68 cents per dollar paid.
“Tolls are an extremely inefficient means of raising money for transportation projects,” noted Ley. “The gas tax has a less than one percent cost of collection. Clearly, if we are going to take money from family budgets, we want to do it in the most efficient manner possible.”
Ley provided the example of the Tacoma Narrows Bridge, built in 2007. The state borrowed roughly 87 percent of the $786 million cost. Toll rates increased, and citizens became angry, causing the Legislature to intervene five times. Most recently, the Legislature has allocated $130 million to lower tolling charges. After 17 years, the principal loan balance has been paid down only about $98 million, according to one news report.
One analysis indicated the final amount paid would be triple the amount borrowed-extremely expensive for taxpayers, whether they’re paying tolls or the rest of the taxpayers bailing out the toll system.
Toll rates are another significant concern. The initial authorization in SB 5765 allowed the toll rate to be set up to the maximum toll charged in the state. At the time of passage, the maximum toll rate on I-405 in Seattle was $10. Today, it’s $15 and there is discussion of raising it to $18, all within three years.
“The proposed tolls will significantly impact Southwest Washington citizens,” added Ley. “We have roughly 75,000 Clark County residents who commute to work in Oregon. They pay roughly $250 million in Oregon income taxes each year. This bill will prevent all the negative financial impacts on hard-working Washington families while rejecting an extremely inefficient means of raising money for transportation projects.”
In addition to Ley, eight other representatives are co-sponsoring the bill, including five from Southwest Washington: Rep. Stephanie McClintock, R-Vancouver, also from the 18th District; Reps. Kevin Waters, R-Stevenson, and David Stuebe, R-Washougal from the 17th District; and Reps. Ed Orcutt, R-Kalama, and Peter Abbarno, R-Centralia, from the 20th District.
The next step for HB 1559 would be a public hearing in the House Transportation Committee.
Information provided by Washington State House Republicans,
houserepublicans.wa.gov
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“Additionally, the cost of collecting the money for tolls is estimated to be between 19 and 68 cents per dollar paid..The gas tax has a less than one percent cost of collection.” or
$10 Toll, $6.80 goes to pay to collect toll vs. gas tax less than $1 to collect toll.
Trucks and freight would pay a huge toll. eg,SR 520 Bridge in
a 6 axle truck toll $20.70 one way @ peak hours, 7-10 am or 3-7 pm, pay by mail.
Carpools and motorcycles pay tolls too.
The financiers are the big winners, at the expense of toll payers.
PS. Who collects the tolls? Is it is a third part company? do the contracts go out to bid?
Tacoma Narrows Bridge was built in 2007. The state borrowed roughly 87 percent of the $786 million cost (approx. $684 million). After 17 years, the principal loan balance has been paid down only about $98 million (approx. 14.3% of the $684 borrowed). This is unbelievable. After 17 yrs., the state has paid off only about 14.3% of the loan of $684 million. Who in their right mind would ever consider bridge tolling to be an effective means of loan repayment????
I have an idea… how about trimmin’ all the fat off the current plan and just build a simple bridge that can handle more traffic, no light rail (busses are good), a 10′ sidewalk for both pedestrians and cyclists, and call it a day? Get the two states and the feds to split costs evenly and NO TOLLS. We don’t need a glorious monument (current plan); we need a simple bridge to handle more cars and trucks. And, oh yes, don’t spend another friggin’ dollar until the Coast Guard approval is in hand!
Or an even better idea… leave the current bridge as is, and then build a third bridge before anything else is built. Have the costs split 3 ways, without tolling !!!
The majority of the $7.5-billion cost of the bridge is for light rail. The tolls will be for the purpose of subsidizing light rail. As you sit in your car waiting to pay the very expensive toll, you will be able to watch the mostly empty light rail cars zip right past you. This bridge is really a scam on motorists.
The cost for the light rail component is currently ~ 1.875 Billion, and is expected to go up. The whole cost is expected to go up, to be announced later in 2025. A pattern with these mega projects are lowball cost estimates to get a project approved, then the costs go up significantly. At the same time, benefits and the number of people forecast to ride the light rail are exaggerated in order to get approval. Over-estimates about the number of people riding the light rail has been the case with this I-5 Bridge project for years.