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The Bridge Is Supposed To Be Toll Free
As chief deputy of business and transportation and a public member of the California Toll Bridge Authority from 1967 to 1974, I was involved with the San Diego Coronado Bay Bridge. Two other San Diegans, Jim Hall and Gordon Luce, were chairmen of the authority during the first four years of Gov. Reagan's administration. The three of us, along with three other San Diegans involved in the Reagan administration, Bob Carleson, Jim Moe and Marc Sandstrom, attest that the bridge was to be "toll free" when the bonds were paid off.
I have to differ with the city of Coronado and its Mayor Tom Smisek. Many in Coronado want the tolls to continue, to reduce traffic to Coronado and also to help pay for a tunnel under Fourth Street. An argument on the other side, besides that the bridge is supposed to be toll free, is that since the advisory vote in favor of the tunnel was 83 percent, Coronado could try to obtain a two-thirds vote to fund the tunnel by imposing a sales or room tax increase. Visitors pay 50 percent of sales taxes in Coronado.
Much of Coronado's growth and traffic since the bridge opened is because of new development, including the addition of 10 high-rise condo buildings just south of the enlarged Hotel del Coronado, two new large hotels, the Coronado Cays development, the many new condos and an increase in visitors. Civilian employment at the Naval Air Station, North Island is about the same as it was 20 years ago.
A San Diego Association of Governments' study found that "elimination of the bridge tolls would have essentially negligible increases in air quality and noise." On Dec. 18, Sandag's board will decide the tolls' fate.
The bridge was approved by the Gov. Pat Brown's bridge authority in November of 1966 and the bonds to finance it were sold the following month, just before Gov. Reagan took office. At a 1964 hearing, the North Island Association was told the popular pedestrian ferry, known as the "Nickel Snatcher," that took workers directly to North Island, would continue if the bridge were built.
Upon arriving in Sacramento as members of the incoming Reagan administration, we learned that the bond covenants required that the ferry be eliminated. It could not be saved because the bonds were "bearer bonds" and we could not find the necessary two-thirds support to amend the bonds and allow the ferry to continue. At the 1964 hearing, many Coronado residents spoke against the bridge while the Coronado Chamber of Commerce spoke in favor.
We also learned there was to be no lower toll for commuters or frequent users, no lights on the bridge, no safety railings and no connection to Interstate 5 south because of a shortage of construction funds. We solved all those problems and also sponsored legislation to put Third and Fourth streets in the State Highway System so that the state, rather than Coronado, would pay for maintenance.
Just before the bridge opened in 1969, the Reagan team lowered the tolls for frequent users from 60 cents each way to 45, 37 1/2 and 35 cents in the next two years. Excess revenue, by keeping the base toll at 60 cents each way, allowed the transportation authority to continually to buy bonds in the market, resulting in a full payoff in 1986, 13 years ahead of schedule. At the request of Gov. Reagan, at a 1970 meeting of the transportation authority board I proposed, and the board approved, a measure call for the bridge to be made toll free when the bonds were paid off.
Tom Hawthorne of San Diego, a member of the California Transportation Commission, made a motion in 1986 to make the bridge toll free and lost on a 5-4 vote. Instead, a free carpool lane was approved and the toll limited to $1 for those coming from the San Diego side of the bridge. Motorists leaving Coronado pay nothing.
In addition to the North Island Association, many labor leaders including Jerry Butkiewicz, of the San Diego-Imperial Counties Labor Council, have urged Sandag to drop the tolls. By legislation, Sandag was given control of the bridge in 1992, and now with the cost of bridge maintenance again paid by the state, as is the case with the state's other seven toll bridges, Sandag has the authority to make the bridge toll free and the requirement to provide $33 million for a seismic retrofit.
Most of the morning commuters to Coronado are low- and moderate-income people who cannot afford to live in Coronado and must commute over the bridge. These commuters include Navy enlisted personnel, North Island civilian employees and workers at Coronado's three major hotels. They would benefit if the bridge were toll free.
Long ago the state reneged on its promise to keep the Nickel Snatcher. Now Sandag has a chance to make good on another one of the original promises by voting Dec. 18 to make the bridge toll free.
Jim Schmidt is a retired executive of Great American Bank. He has been involved in housing and transportation issues for more than 30 years and is a public member on Sandag's Toll Revenue Advisory Committee.
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The Unfulfilled Bridge Promise
Since 1886, Coronado has thrived as a small residential resort village. Over the years, large government agencies have intervened and encroached on the community. The state was no exception in the 1960s when it ingressed a freeway bay crossing onto Coronado's small, residential street network without a properly planned bridge approach. Over the last 30 years, while Coronado's population has remained constant, bridge-induced traffic has quadrupled, leaving the community physically divided and putting everyone, particularly school children and the elderly, at risk when attempting to cross their neighborhood streets.
Much has been said recently about "the promise." This alleged promise was to remove the tolls on the San Diego-Coronado Bridge when construction bonds were paid off. However, the promise exists only as an unwritten, undocumented memory.
The fact is real promises do exist in laws and actions that protect all Californians equally, including the community of Coronado.
- The promise of majority rule is a democracy. For the first half of the 20th century, in every bay-crossing vote ever taken, the majority of Coronado voters rejected a bridge crossing. Nonetheless, the bridge arrived. In the recent election, Coronadans, by a vote of 83 percent, supported the bored tunnel as the preferred bridge approach improvement to the North Island Naval Air Station.
- The promise of sovereignty and the authority of an incorporated city is to carry out the vision of its adopted general plan.
- The promises and actions from 1986 to the present of the California Transportation Commission, the state legislature and the San Diego Association of Governments were to use bridge tolls to mitigate the impacts of traffic in Coronado.
- The promise of the California Environmental Quality Act is to protect and preserve the quality of life for every citizen by requiring mitigation for environmental impacts resulting from large projects.
The time has come for the real promises to be kept. It is time for all responsible parties to step up to the plate in financing a proper bridge approach improvement for Coronado. Financial participants should include federal, state and regional governments, the cities of San Diego and Coronado and, yes, bridge tolls. Until then, Coronado's bridge approach remains the promise unfulfilled.
Homer Bludau is Coronado's city manager.
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