Mayor Proposes Bridge Toll Vancouver Leader Floats Fee For 2 Columbia River Crossings

Thu., Jan. 29, 1998

Associated Press

Drivers crossing the Interstate 5 and 205 bridges over the Columbia River would pay tolls for every trip, if Vancouver Mayor Royce Pollard’s idea becomes reality.

Nearly a quarter-million motorists cross the bridges daily between the rapidly growing suburbs in Vancouver and the metropolitan Portland area. At $1 a vehicle, tolls on both bridges would raise more than $1 million a week.

“Other states are doing it, and we know that no matter what happens, the Legislature will never meet our needs in paying for transportation projects. We will always be behind,” Pollard said as he raised the issue during his State of the City address on Monday. “This is the way I see us getting ahead.”

Even if Vancouver splits the money with Oregon and pays for other state highway projects in southwest Washington, millions would be available for Clark County, he said.

Pollard said he has grown frustrated with the Washington Legislature’s unwillingness to pay for transportation. Local officials need $12 million for a state Highway 14 project, he said, calling that amount “a drop in the bucket for the state.”

“We were up there (in Olympia) the other day, and quite honestly, we got the runaround,” he said.

Pollard said tolls would probably need federal and state approval, as well as a vote of the people.

Dean Lookingbill of the Southwest Washington Regional Transportation Council said the option of bridge tolls will be further considered this year by the council.

The first Columbia bridge opened in 1917 and carried a nickel-a-vehicle toll until 1929. Another toll was imposed in 1960 to pay for a second bridge and updates on the first one, but was removed in 1966.

xxxx AUTOMATIC MONEY Nearly a quarter-million motorists cross the bridges daily. At $1 a vehicle, tolls on both bridges would raise more than $1 million a week.

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