Today, Rep. Marie Gluesenkamp Perez (WA-03) released the following statement regarding recent tolling proposals for the new I-5 Bridge:

“When I came to Congress, I made it my priority to fight for every federal dollar possible to replace the I-5 Bridge and reduce burdens on local drivers – and we’ve been successful in bringing home nearly $2.1 billion for this project.

Not replacing this bridge is not an option. It’s been rated functionally obsolete, has skyrocketing operational costs, and endures 7-10 hours of congestion daily as the worst trucking bottleneck in the state – not to mention it could be brought down by an earthquake.

We’re going to replace this bridge with Southwest Washington labor and American-made steel – and we’re going to build something we’re truly proud of that we can pass down to our kids and grandkids.

But my community didn’t ask for bells and whistles – we want durability and congestion relief. We want to support the family businesses and farmers that move $132 million of freight across the bridge each day. It’s critical that our communities’ interests are heard by the state and local legislators who make these decisions. I will always fight to bring back our federal tax dollars for those voices of our community to be heard.

I’ve urged the IBR Program to prioritize these values in the final bridge design by increasing vehicular capacity and using federal resources effectively to limit tolls – but this week’s tolling proposals make me deeply concerned about Southwest Washington drivers bearing a disproportionate burden of this project.

I encourage folks to submit public comment about the bridge design to make our values heard – and I’ll continue to urge the IBR Program to prioritize traffic relief, tolling reductions, and a cost-effective bridge.”