Tolls would be entirely removed from the Tacoma Narrows Bridge in a year and a half if a bill pre-filed Monday morning is passed by the Washington State Legislature. The 2022 short session will run 60 days from Jan. 10 to March 10.

Sen. Emily Randall, D-Bremerton, is proposing in Senate Bill 5488 that $772 million be transferred from the general fund to pay off debts on the bridge that opened on July 16, 2007. It would include $672 million for outstanding principal and interest, $57 million for deferred sales taxes on the bridge’s construction and $43 million loaned by the state to freeze toll rates.

With interest, the bridge’s $729 million construction cost balloons to more than $1.48 billion. That debt would be satisfied on June 30, 2030. The $57.6 million in deferred sales tax was originally required to be added in 10 annual installments beginning in 2019, but lawmakers bumped it until after the bonds were paid, to limit toll increases. That would be followed by repayment of the $42.8 million in state loans by Fall 2031, at which time, by state law, tolls would be removed, according to Carl See, deputy director of the state Transportation Commission, which determines toll rates.

Click here to read more.