(A recent letter from the City of
Mercer Island and their legal council to the WSDOT concerning the EIS about
I-90 tolling prompted me to send their city council the following letter. I thought others might be interested so
have posted it.)
I’m no lawyer but the letter from
the city's legal council to the WSDOT concerning the “scoping process” for the
Environmental Impact Statement for I-90 tolling seems “deficient”. It deals only with expanding the
“funding alternatives” to provide for construction of 520 and ignores the
purported “environmental” reason for the tolls: reducing congestion on the I-90 Bridge.
Surely adding tolls to the I-90
Bridge will reduce congestion there by eliminating the incentive to avoid 520
tolls. I-90 tolls may further
reduce congesting by inducing some commuters to use buses. These environmental improvements will
far out weigh any increase in congestion from those choosing to go around the
lake. Thus any rational “EIS”
would likely favor I-90 tolls.
The funding alternatives in the
letter are, to put it mildly, “highly speculative”. If Mercer Island officials want to avoid the tolls they
should advocate for stopping East Link as detailed in my blog
http://stopeastlinknow.blogspot.com.
Doing so would provide more than enough funds to eliminate tolls on
either bridge and cover unfunded portion of 520 rebuild. It would also avoid the congestion all
cross-lake commuters will face if ST is allowed to close off I-90 Bridge center
roadway for light rail.
Bill Hirt
wjhirt@yahoo.com
No comments:
Post a Comment