Floating bridge to be revamped

Gov. Christine Gregoire took a boat ride around the 520 floating bridge yesterday to evaluate whether or not the state's plan to build a new bridge will float.

Gregoire's bridge-side tour followed a meeting in Olympia yesterday morning where she said she and other legislators identified the 520 bridge as the state's first priority from a safety perspective, putting the bridge higher than the Alaskan Way Viaduct, a much talked about safety concern.

"For the safety of those who use the bridge we have got to move forward with the replacement plan for the bridge," said Gregoire at a meeting held at the UW's South Campus Center following her boat ride.

Gregoire said the boat trip allowed her to visually see the cracks and design problems she had previously only read about.

"Seeing is lending it that chance of urgency," added Doug MacDonald, secretary of transportation for the state Department of Transportation (WSDOT).

WSDOT is planning to revamp the bridge, which has a one-in-20 chance of failure in an earthquake in the next 10 years, according to Maureen Sullivan, WSDOT director for the 520 project.

WSDOT has two alternatives for redoing the bridge, one of which will be selected for use by the end of the year or the beginning of 2006, said Sullivan.

The first plan would expand the bridge to include shoulders on the roadway, designed to increase safety, but the bridge would still remain the current four-lane size. According to Sullivan, this plan would cost anywhere from $1.7 to $2.1 billion.

The other alternative would have four lanes plus two additional high-occupancy vehicle (HOV) lanes for buses and carpools. This plan would cost approximately $2.6 to $2.9 billion, said Sullivan.

"The Legislature ... may fund a good portion of these projects, but wouldn't fund it all," she said.

Because the state will not fund the entirety of the construction cost; WSDOT is looking for other funding options, which include a potential regional ballot measure or a return to bridge tolling. Tolling -- conducted until the bridge was paid for -- could bring in a projected $700 million toward the project, said Sullivan.

When Gregoire asked the question, "Are the folks in the region ready for tolling?" the approximately 30 attendees at yesterday's meeting answered with a resounding, "Yes." Others went further to explain, "They understand that the users have to pay," and "They know it's coming."

The six-lane plan could offer relief to the 115,000 commuters who cross the bridge daily, whereas the other plan only increases safety, not traffic flow, said Sullivan.

Both plans would also do away with the "ramps to nowhere" in the Arboretum area and establish a drain pool for runoff from the bridge to be treated before it reaches the lake, said Sullivan.

The new bridge would also include new pontoons to replace the outdated hollow pontoons, noise walls, a bike and pedestrian path across the lake, lids -- covered patches of roadway -- to better connect the neighborhoods and fewer columns under the bridge to be more environmentally friendly.

Gregoire said State Route-520 is one of more than 100 bridges that are in need of replacement or renovation across Washington State.

"We in the state of Washington, from a transportation perspective, have got some real challenges," said Gregoire.