$1 million OK'd for Doyle Drive

<p>Sonoma County Transportation Authority directors voted Monday to pony up $1 million to help replace San Francisco's Doyle Drive, the treacherous southern approach to the Golden Gate Bridge that has been deemed too narrow, and unsafe in an earthquake.</p><p>Directors agreed it was a much easier pill to swallow than the $32 million initially sought by the lead agency in the project that will cost more than $1 billion.</p><p>In talks over the past nine months, Sonoma County's share was lowered with a commitment to loan the project a $20 million earmark for the Port Sonoma Ferry. Officials also convinced Bay Area transportation planners that $11 million in local highway funds were off limits.</p><p>"If $1 million gets us off the hook, it's probably not a bad price to pay," said Supervisor Mike Kerns, who is chairman of the authority and also sits on the board of directors for the bridge.</p><p>The pledge was a small but important step in closing a multi-million dollar funding shortfall for Doyle Drive that has stymied officials for years.</p><p>The Metropolitan Transportation Commission is expected to put up $80 million, Golden Gate Bridge directors have been asked to commit $75 million and the Transportation Authority of Marin is expected to pledge $4 million.</p><p>Those funds, combined with money already allocated from the state and federal governments, could allow construction on the 1.5-mile stretch of road to be complete by 2014, officials said.</p><p>Sonoma County has not identified where its $1 million portion will come from, but it likely will be taken from future state or federal transportation improvement grants, said Suzanne Smith, executive director of the transportation authority.</p><p>Regional officials decided Marin should pay more because its residents use Doyle Drive more, she said.</p><p>"I made the case that the North Bay contribution should be dependent on use, which is a 4 to 1 ratio with Marin," Smith said.</p><p>Golden Gate Bridge officials will decide later this month what to do. Directors rejected a proposal earlier this year to collect tolls for the construction. Critics labeled it a commuter tax because the toll would hit southbound drivers.</p><p>The bridge in September raised the toll $1 to cover a five-year, $91 million deficit.</p><p>Kerns said he wasn't sure how it would come up with money for Doyle Drive.</p><p>"I don't know where the bridge district is going to come up with $75 million," Kerns said.</p><p>You can reach Staff Writer Paul Payne at 762-7297 or paul.payne@pressdemocrat</p><p>.com.</p>