State Treasurer Michael Murphy says they have to, or the new 520 bridge will not have enough funding.

 http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/transportation/310810_tolls09.html

State Treasurer Michael Murphy rejects the finance plan for the proposed rebuilding of the Evergreen Point Bridge and won't bankroll the project unless lawmakers levy tolls on the Interstate 90 crossing as well as the new bridge.

Murphy said in an interview that he won't sell bonds for the project without the additional tolling because the state can't afford it under current finance plans. He says the tolls should be put in place before the new state Route 520 bridge is completed.

As it stands, financing falls billions of dollars short even with $1.2 billion of anticipated revenue from tolling just the Evergreen Point Bridge.

The issue isn't just the projected revenue being short, it is people bypassing the toll on the 520 by taking the I-90, effectively gutting the projected revenue, and taking us from bad to worse.  In that they may have a valid concern.

 

Four years ago, we liberated a people from a dictator whom killed millions for the crime of being different and had, at the very least, weapons of mass destruction programs and gave aid to Islamic-based terrorism. Well was said, "Who's done more for world peace? The "no war" yahoo or the US soldier?"

This time - unlike on March 19th on NWBloggers.com, I'm going to let somebody much more articulate and familiar with the situation on the ground do the talking (with thanks to Orbusmax.com for the link):