Tacoma Narrows WA concession

Bechtel through its subsidiary United Infrastructure Washington Inc (UIW) is moving ahead on the project to twin the Tacoma Narrows bridge, a commuter and vacation area facility that links the Kitsap/Olympic peninsula on the west of Puget Sound to the southern part of the greater Seattle area. This follows a majority vote of local residents last November in favor of the toll project, and of other enhancements of road capacity in the WA-16 corridor.

The existing 50 year old 4-lane suspension bridge is free but is heavily congested – up to 90k veh/day on heavy travel days – and in need of some deck repairs and seismic upgrade. Under an agreement between UIW and Washington state, UIW will complete the permitting process, acquire right of way and arrange finance for the new bridge ($350m in construction) plus the repair of the old ($10m to $15m). Design and construction will be done by Tacoma Narrows Constructors, a joint venture of Bechtel and Kiewit. The new bridge, wider than the existing one, will be a matching suspension span, but wider, allowing 4 full travel lanes or 3-travel lanes plus shoulders each side for eastbound travel. When the old span is upgraded it will go from the present 4 substandard lanes without shoulders to 3-lanes plus shoulder, and become the westbound crossing. The old bridge has 0.6m (2')strips of steel grillwork in the deck in each lane of the bridge. This was installed to minimize wind effects on the deck but it makes for a rough ride for motorists and is a maintenance issue. UIW is testing alternatives in wind tunnel tests.

Parsons Transp, Steinman and HNTB are doing detailed design.

The state legislature has voted $250m for major upgrades of WA-16. 9km (5mi) from the eastern end of the bridge to I-5 will be upgraded to make it a modern 2x3-lane motorway. Interchanges will be rebuilt at I-5 and on the western end of the bridge. Main lanes will do full highway speed electronic tolling and a cash plaza will be built off to the side for eastbound tolling.

UIW will form a private non-profit to borrow in the tax-exempt market and run the bridges as a toll operation. On completion of the new bridge title to it will be transferred to the state of WA. The tax-exempt concessionaire will be leased both bridges to operate as a joint toll facility for as long as it takes to pay off the debt. Tolls will meanwhile also cover operating and maintenance costs. A maximum round trip toll of $3.00 for all vehicles has been set, unless this fails to cover current and debt service costs, in which case the toll may be raised.

Operations and maintenance will be contracted by the non-profit concessionaire to UIW. UIW is incurring about $15m in costs developing the project and will take its fees for this work out of the financial close.

The state of WA is subsidizing the bridge venture with an upfront grant of $50m. The non-profit concessionaire will be raising about $400m of its own late 2000. It hopes to begin construction immediately after financial close, for an opening of the new bridge in 2004. (Contact Tom Horkan UIW 253 564 161, see TRnl#29 July 98 p12, TRnl#3 May 66 p7)