For whom the bridge tolls …

The Golden Gate Bridge District’s board of directors, after months of deliberation, has come to a decision on the question of congestion, the bridge toll, its toll on commuters, and the Doyle Drive refurbishment project, announced Mayor Joanne Sanders at Wednesday’s City Council meeting. “This was a great experience for me to witness,” said Sanders. “For a board of 19 people, with all these different counties, for us to be able to come to a solution within three months was pretty remarkable.”
The issue was contentious, Sanders said. Some of the board wanted to use the funds to offset the deficit on the Doyle Drive refurbishment project, a sum that would total between $160 million and $370 million. However, commuters in Sonoma and Marin counties were opposed to having the money used for San Francisco’s Doyle Drive deficit, as a sort of “commuter tax.” After much discussion, the board decided, by a 10-8 vote, to allow the bridge’s funds to remain within the bridge’s purview. “We’re going to be the agency that has legal authority,” said Sanders.
The amount of Bridge toll increase has not been decided, but will be variable, designed to discourage congestion, thus fulfilling requirements of a $158.7 million U.S. Department of Transportation Urban Partnership Agreement grant.
Details of the amount of the toll increase will be worked out over the coming weeks. Suggestions have included dropping the $1 FasTrack discount or raising the cash toll to $6. A decision is expected to be reached by this September but must be reached by September 2009.
The Doyle Drive project, needed for safety reasons, remains a funding challenge.