TACOMA – Ambulances, police cars and fire trucks might have to pay tolls when crossing the new Tacoma Narrows bridge.
Some Pierce County officials, including Sheriff Paul Pastor and Executive John Ladenburg, are lobbying against the idea.
“It is silly to have us pay an admission fee to save lives,” Pastor told The (Tacoma) News Tribune. “I understand they want to pay the bridge debt, but they are, by this policy, creating a far more urgent problem and creating a potentially dangerous situation.”
The state Transportation Commission, a seven-member citizen board that sets highway tolls and ferry fares, has informally discussed possible toll exemptions, but has not made a final decision.
Commissioners have discussed exempting state Department of Transportation maintenance vehicles that service the bridge and Washington State Patrol troopers who work near it, said Reema Griffith, the commission’s executive director.
They’ve also discussed requiring that other emergency vehicles and first responders pay the toll fees, likely to be $1.50, by using windshield-mounted devices that automatically deduct toll payments from electronic accounts.
Under such a scenario, Griffith said, ambulance, fire or police crews could apply for credit to their accounts if they crossed the bridge while responding to emergency calls with their vehicles’ lights and sirens on.
The commission takes up the issue today as part of a formal proposal that will include toll costs. The proposal will be open to public comment for five weeks.
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