I-5 ‘Corridor Toll’ Proposed for Columbia River Crossing
The mayor of Vancouver, Wash., has proposed using a “corridor toll” on Interstate 5 that would require motorists to help pay for the Columbia River Crossing, a project replacing the existing bridge and most recently estimated to cost $3.6 billion.
Such a toll would spread tolling costs across the 5-mile “bridge improvement area” between Portland, Ore., and Vancouver, meaning that any vehicles accessing certain areas along that stretch of the interstate would be tolled for project costs, and not just traffic that actually crosses the bridge.
“I believe if we must have tolls, then we must toll fairly and equitably,” Vancouver Mayor Tim Leavitt wrote on his blog. “There are many, many users of the corridor who may not cross the bridge. They will benefit from the improvements, and should thus share in the local costs.”
Leavitt, along with Portland Mayor Sam Adams, is a member of the Project Sponsors Council, a group created by the governors of Washington and Oregon and charged with forming a financial plan for the project.
Adams told Portland’s KGW News he would help explore the idea as long as tolls would be charged equally on both sides of the river.
While the Columbia River Crossing project will be funded in part by the two states and a grant from the federal government, “tolling will also be necessary to build the project and to help manage congestion,” according to the project’s website.
While no toll rate or policy has yet been set, the Columbia River Crossing Tolling Study Committee submitted a report in January detailing the outcomes of scenarios with differing tolling ranges on the bridge.
The report investigated tolling both northbound and southbound traffic on I-5, as well as tolling I-5 and I-205 southbound travelers only, but the committee has not yet considered the possibility of a corridor toll.
