Counties may help fix Doyle Drive

<p>The Golden Gate Bridge and North Bay transportation agencies are being asked once again to contribute millions of dollars to the $1 billion replacement of San Francisco’s Doyle Drive bridge approach. </p><p>In a proposal by the Metropolitan Transportation Commission that raises the specter of possible toll increases, the bridge would put up $75 million, Marin County would shell out $4 million and Sonoma County would pay $1 million.</p><p>The commission would match the contributions with its own $80 million, closing a funding gap and enabling construction of the 1.5-mile approach to the bridge by 2014.</p><p>Just where the financially strapped bridge would get the money is unclear. It raised tolls $1 in September to cover a five-year shortfall of $91 million. Bridge spokeswoman Mary Currie said other options include government grants, bus and ferry fares, concessions and advertising partnerships.</p><p>Earlier this year, the bridge board rejected a separate toll for Doyle Drive construction that some in the North Bay called a commuter tax. </p><p>“I don’t know how the bridge will raise its share,” Currie said. “What is important right now is there is a proposal on the table.”</p><p>Bridge directors will consider the matter Nov. 21. Marin and Sonoma transportation boards will meet Monday to discuss it. </p><p>Doyle Drive has been eyed for replacement for decades. The raised stretch of concrete and steel that winds through the Presidio is considered too narrow and dangerous in the event of an earthquake.</p><p>Transportation planners last year thought they had lined up money for Doyle Drive construction when they were awarded a federal grant requiring congestion tolls that would vary with traffic volume.</p><p>After a series of contentious meetings in which North Bay commuters complained, bridge directors refused to collect the toll, and the plan was scrapped.</p><p>The new funding scheme was devised in recent meetings between MTC staff and regional agencies in San Francisco, Marin and Sonoma.</p><p>Commission spokesman Randy Rentschler said it has been agreed to in principal. Commissioners will decide whether to accept the plan Nov. 19. </p><p>His agency would raise its $80 million share through tolls it controls on every other bridge in the Bay Area except the Golden Gate.</p><p>San Francisco residents already are paying about $173 million through a half-cent sales tax for transportation projects. Other money is coming from state and federal sources, including a $20 million congressional earmark that will be borrowed from a Port Sonoma ferry project.</p><p>The Golden Gate Bridge, with its $90 million annual budget, is large enough to make a contribution over time, Rentschler said.</p><p>Doyle Drive is a critical economic link between the North Bay and the city, he said. </p><p>“There’s no doubt that Doyle Drive is part of the Golden Gate Bridge,” Rentschler said.</p><p>“Absent Doyle Drive, you can’t get to the bridge.”</p><p>Sonoma County Supervisor Mike Kerns, who sits on the board of the Golden Gate Bridge and the Sonoma County Transportation Authority, agreed some contribution should be made.</p><p>The county likely will cough up its $1 million, but whether the bridge district will commit $75 million remains to be seen, he said.</p><p>Competing projects like the $40 million to $50 million suicide barrier are a consideration, he said. And the board has been adamantly opposed to raising the toll, which now stands at $6, he said.</p><p>Revisiting a failed revenuegenerating scheme to sell corporate sponsorships could be one approach, Currie said. </p><p>“It’s a tough one,” Kerns said. “I don’t know where all this is going to lead.”</p><p>You can reach Staff Writer Paul Payne at 762-7297 or paul.payne@pressdemocrat.com.</p>