I-695 Halts Repairs On Hood Canal Bridge

OLYMPIA - Voter approval of Initiative 695 last month wiped out $180 million slated for replacement of the crumbling eastern half of the Hood Canal Bridge, delaying the project at least two years, state officials said yesterday.

Construction on the lifeline between the Olympic and Kitsap peninsulas had been expected to start in 2001, but now will not get under way until 2003 at the earliest, and that's only if alternate funding is found.

Department of Transportation officials said they are examining all options, including the politically risky ideas of charging a toll and turning over control of the bridge to a private company. Other sources include the federal, state and local governments.

"We can't start the project unless we can figure out how to pay for it," said Helga Morgenstern, an assistant DOT secretary.

The western half of the 1 1/2-mile-long span sank during a fierce storm in February 1979. It took three years to replace that section.

Now the eastern half is deteriorating - chunks of concrete can be peeled off by hand - and DOT engineers say it must be replaced by 2007. A newly revised estimate pegs the cost at $190 million.

The design phase is under way, and it was thought that construction could begin in 2001, especially after Washington voters approved a $2.4 billion transportation plan in 1998, Morgenstern said.

But I-695 changed all that. The measure approved by Washington voters last month slashes a third of the DOT's $3 billion budget by eliminating the value-based tax on automobile license tabs and replacing it with a flat $30 fee per vehicle.

During a briefing yesterday before the DOT's seven-member oversight panel, Morgenstern said the agency is not ready to rule out alternatives such as tolls.

Tolls on the original Hood Canal Bridge were removed due to a lawsuit and remain a sore point among Olympic Peninsula residents. The Legislature has specifically banned future Hood Canal tolls.