Transportation was aptly described as “not an issue going away anytime soon” at a joint breakfast of the Kirkland and Redmond Chambers of Commerce on Oct. 28.

During the event, held at Matt’s Rotisserie in Redmond Town Center, a panel of guest speakers included former U.S. Sen. Slade Gorton, State Rep. Ross Hunter (Democrat, 48th District), State Rep. Judy Clibborn (Democrat, 41st District; also House Transportation chair), State Rep. Deb Eddy (Democrat, 48th District), State Sen. Fred Jarrett (Democrat, 41st District) and Craig Stone, director of the Toll Division for the Washington State Department of Transportation (WSDOT).

Gorton’s overview of federal transportation issues focused on whether to charge taxes by vehicle miles traveled instead of charging for gas by the gallon and how to award federal grant money to local communities.

On a regional level, Clibborn mentioned the ongoing controversy of a deep bore tunnel versus a viaduct to address the deterioration of the Alaskan Way Viaduct — an issue that impacts the Eastside because of gridlock on highways leading in and out of Seattle. The bigger issue, she said, is “to see how we’re going to fund new projects … how do we fund ferries that need to be replaced … what about rail, and how do we improve transit?”

She would like to see local communities take advantage of federal grant proposals for projects like the replacement of the SR-520 floating bridge.

Jarrett emphasized the need to work cooperatively to push forward a mobility agenda that serves the common needs of the 41st, 45th and 48th legislative districts. Beyond that, Jarrett said he’d like more connectivity as a King County group and that chambers of commerce can be instrumental in bringing influential people together to create an agenda for Olympia.

Hunter said his main concern is the functionality of SR-520, as the main east-west corridor between Seattle and the Eastside.

“We need closure on this side of the bridge … we need a design that is reasonable,” said Hunter, stating that he likes the idea of “what we have but wider,” with “six lanes … more HOV capacity out to Redmond,” and also “keeping bus lanes in the middle to reduce weaving.”

Hunter said he hopes design planning will come to a close by the end of this year.

Hunter added that many families, including his own, are replacing gas-guzzling vehicles with hybrids or simply using fewer cars, so “gas tax can’t be the main source of funding” for the new bridge. He said he would impose tolls on both 520 and I-90 “so we don’t turn I-90 into a parking lot.”

“We can’t afford to talk about transportation and transportation financing separately,” said Eddy. She also called high-quality universities and K-12 education programs priorities, which affect the quality of life and the ability to attract and keep people on the Eastside and in the region.

Stone wrapped up the presentation stating, “It’s been a generation since 520 was tolled. It was 35 cents, and everyone stopped.”

With tolling likely to return soon, it’s now a matter of asking, “How is this going to work?” He said.

Stone said he anticipated that somewhere between November 2010 and June 2011, “we will bring tolling back to 520.”

“People fought it for the Tacoma Narrows bridge, but found it saved 30 minutes of their life,” he noted of the improved traffic flow that resulted from the project.

“Cash is a costly way to collect [toll] money — we have to pay people to stand there,” said Stone. And Medina doesn’t want a toll plaza, he continued.

“Open road tolling,” in which cars would have a “good-to-go tag,” or cameras that would keep track of license plates of cars on the bridge, would be the more efficient way to handle collections, according to Stone.

Bridge users would receive monthly bills and incentives could be offered to those who set up a tolling account and use a transponder.