A ‘no’ vote on the Coronado tunnel idea can have popular solutions

The city of Coronado, placed on the June ballot as Proposition H, to vote “yes” or “no” on whether it should continue to fund a study to build a tunnel under Fourth Street from the west end of the bridge to the Naval Air Station North Island. Opposition continues to mount and The San Diego Union-Tribune recently urged a “no” vote. If a “yes” vote continues the expensive study there is still no assurance that it can be built because of the funding needs, which last year were estimated to be in the $600 million range. This writer was involved in the bridge as Gov. Reagan’s appointee as chief deputy and assistant secretary of the Business and Transportation Agency and on the California Toll Bridge Authority (CTBA) after my return to San Diego. Reagan inherited a situation where the bridge had been approved when Brown was the CTBA chairman, just after Reagan defeated Brown in November 1966. The bonds were sold and the bridge was a “done deal” with a lot of problems to correct when Reagan took office in January 1967. It was very difficult with a lot of surprises but we solved the financial problems and the bridge was built and opened in 1969. Reagan and his CTBA set in place a plan to make the bridge toll free, but the city of Coronado led the way to keep the tolls after the bond debt was paid off in 1986. Read the entire San Diego Source article here: http://www.sddt.com/Commentary/article.cfm?Commentary_ID=74&SourceCode=20100507tza