Bill to Keep Bridge Toll at $1.20 Passed

An intentionally ambiguous legislative compromise that would keep the $1.20 Coronado Bridge toll intact for the time being won final legislative approval and was sent to the governor Monday.

But the bill, by state Sen. Jim Ellis (R-San Diego), left unsettled the future of the charge for using the San Diego Bay crossing.

The projection by state transportation officials that the $50-million bill for the bridge is likely to be paid off next summer--17 years ahead of schedule--touched off an intense debate in San Diego over how the bridge’s $7 million in annual revenues should be spent.

But state transportation officials ended that debate for now, at least among San Diego County legislators, by suggesting that Gov. George Deukmejian might veto a bill that earmarked future toll revenues for road or transit projects.

Last year, Deukmejian vetoed a bill that would have increased the toll on a bridge at Richmond, saying the higher toll represented “an added tax on the bridge user.”

The governor said at the time that bridge tolls should be limited to bridge operations, maintenance and improvements.

In its final version, Ellis’ bill limits use of the toll revenues to those things, plus a study on how congestion might be alleviated on the bridge.

“Maybe I can convince the governor before that study is complete to change his mind,” said Coronado Mayor R. H. Dorman, who wants the toll to pay for a traffic tunnel from the foot of the bridge on the Coronado side to the North Island Naval Air Station.