PORT ANGELES — Port Angeles’ loss may turn out to be Tacoma’s gain.
But only if two crucial factors pan out.
Lloyd Brown, spokesman for the state Department of Transportation, said Wednesday that the aging Hood Canal Bridge’s replacement anchors and pontoons will definitely not be built in Port Angeles.
Instead, Transportation officials are focusing on a site in the Port of Tacoma area to build replacement pontoons and anchors for the bridge.
But it’s still not a done deal, Brown said.
“First, we need to negotiate a good price for the work that remains with our contractor,” Brown said.
“Second, we need to make sure that we have a secure funding source to complete the project.”
While the state’s approved 2005-07 transportation budget set aside money — about $160 million — to perform repair work on the Hood Canal Bridge, those funds depend partially on a state gas tax increase, Brown said.
An initiative that will appear before voters in the Nov. 8 general election, I-912, could repeal the state’s new 9.5-cent gas tax increase, leaving the Hood Canal Bridge’s future funding in limbo, he said.
“If that money is no longer there, the Legislature would have to take another look at how to complete the project,” Brown said.
However, State Rep. Jim Buck, R-Joyce, said the bridge will be repaired whether or not the anti-gas tax initiative passes.
Funding for Hood Canal Bridge repairs was approved before the onset of the 9.5-cent gas tax increase, Buck said.
If the gas tax increase is repealed, the funding formula in the 2005-07 budget would revert to the pre-gas tax increase era, Buck said.
