The Columbia River Crossing locally preferred alternative will not be issued until May or June, but it looks like the most expensive option – a minimum $2.8 billion replacement bridge with light rail – is preferred by many involved with the project.
The project also may require at least $3.1 billion in preliminary costs, on top of the $2.8 billion, according to CRC documents. Construction could begin in 2010 and end in 2017.
Tolls are expected to cover one-third of CRC project costs with the rest coming from local, state and federal sources in equal shares. The CRC task force estimates the tolls could be as high as $10 each way for freight trucks – considerably higher than peak-hour commuter tolls, estimated at $2.50 one-way, according to CRC documents.
Rates, which are set by the Washington Transportation Commission, would vary depending on vehicle size and time of day. Draft charts show they could be as high as $20 round-trip for large trucks during peak times or as low as $1 round-trip for cars from midnight to 5 a.m.
Freight vehicles are expected to foot about 24 percent of the tolls while they make up 8 percent of traffic on the current I-5 bridge, according to CRC documents.
“There are a lot of studies that proportionally show one truck would be the equivalent of 9,000 passenger cars in terms of wear and tear on the highway,” said Ron Anderson, CRC consultant deputy project manager.
That hasn’t been the experience of Darlene Johnson, co-owner of Woodland Truck Line.
“When you have heavy trucks you have more tires so the weight-per-inch comes down,” she said. “If you go down and look at the ruts in the road and you look at where truck tires run, they don’t fit. Those ruts in the roads are caused from cars.”
John Leber estimates his company currently sees $3,000 in weekly productivity losses due to slow traffic on I-5. That’s part of the reason Leber, president of Longview-based Swanson Bark and Wood Products, joined the CRC’s freight committee about three years ago.
“We’ve just given up on using the bridge and let (subcontractors) do it because we can’t plan on getting across,” he said.
Leber’s company trucks make 20 to 30 trips across I-5 daily – small potatoes compared to the 90 to 100 daily trips they make on I-205. He’s willing to pay bridge tolls if it means he can get more trucks moving on I-5.
“Even with a toll, we’d move more back to I-5 if it flowed,” he said. “The problem is it doesn’t flow.”
To keep traffic moving, tolls would be paid electronically rather than at toll booths. Overall tolls are expected to bring in $1.5 billion per year, and Anderson said they could be in place 30 to 40 years to cover construction and maintenance costs.
The CRC’s freight committee includes about a dozen members from the freight industry and about 10 public representatives.
Anderson said freight industry representatives involved with the project are accepting the possibility of high tolls.
“They’re resigned to the fact that we need improvements in the corridor,” he said. “We need mobility.”
But Clark County Commissioner Marc Boldt, who hauled cement for Vancouver-based Rinker Materials from 1994 to 2000, voiced concerns about freight tolls at the Southwest Washington Regional Transportation Council meeting in February.
“I would think that any trucker with a CB radio all the way to California would go on I-205, not I-5,” he said in an interview. “If tolls on trucks are reasonable, that would be one thing. But if it gets to be around $10 a trip, I think you’re going to be looking at major concerns.”
For Johnson at Woodland Truck Line, a $10 toll could mean charging her clients 10 percent more per load on short trips. Many of the company’s clients are manufacturers.
“Trucking is not an easy industry and a lot of the people we deal with are competing on a global market,” Johnson said. “When you add costs – as small as the government thinks (a fee) is – you’re killing industry.”
On a larger scale, she said mounting government fees like tolls are driving manufacturers outside of the United States, and that she would prefer a less expensive bridge option – particularly one without mass transit, which she said isn’t widely used.
But in his Feb. 28 state of the city address, Vancouver Mayor Royce Pollard touted the mass transit option as an opportunity that can’t be passed up. And Leber, Boldt and Anderson all said separately that without tolling, there likely won’t be sufficient funds for the project.
“Tell me how a toll is a bad thing if it gets us moving,” Leber said. “Sooner or later those of us who use infrastructure of any kind need to pay for it.”
He encouraged business owners and other citizens to communicate with the project’s work groups before decisions are made.
“We are very open – we want input,” he said. “If there’s something we have missed we, would much rather hear about it now.”
Charity Thompson can be reached at cthompson@vbjusa.com.
