Last week our state’s top lawmakers asked the Trump Administration for funding for “urgent” repairs to the Ballard Locks.
The Seattle Times editorial board followed up with an opinion piece that “the federal government needs to find funding to maintain and upgrade the Ballard Locks and ensure passage to the Lake Washington Ship Canal remains safe and reliable.”
Then the Times published a letter from one of its readers that asks: why is it still free for boats to pass through the Locks?
Reader Kenneth Torp suggested charging a toll, not for commercial boats or kayaks, but for pleasure craft. “Most of the vessels that transit the Locks are pleasure craft — yachts and power boats,” he writes. “Their owners are not on food stamps.”
It’s currently free to travel through the Locks.
Given all the recent tolls in our area — I-405, the 520 bridge and the Highway 99 tunnel when it opens in 2019 — what do you think of the idea to toll non-commercial boats at the Ballard Locks?