Mercer Island residents, businesses, community groups and employees who depend on I-90 will have another opportunity to provide input to the Federal Highway Administration and Washington State Department of Transportation on bridge tolling scenarios and the upcoming environmental impact study.

The second of three additional scoping meetings will be held at Mercer Island High School on Monday, October 21 from 4:30 – 8:30 p.m.

“Because of Mercer Island’s unique position as the only community for which I-90 provides the sole means of ingress and egress, tolling I-90 would affect our school district in several profound and adverse ways,” wrote the Mercer Island School Board on February 14. “This would be an untenable burden to the majority of our staff and would significantly impede our ability to recruit and retain a quality workforce.”

Of the nearly 500 district employees, 68 percent reside off of Mercer Island. The financial burden to each of those off-island employees would be approximately $1,300 annually, assuming a $7.18 per rush-hour round trip rate with a Good-To-Go pass. The district estimates the aggregate financial impact of offsetting the cost of tolling on district employees to be approximately $500,000 per year.