Your writer, Matt Phelps, wonders why people are so disdainful of the tolls on SR 520 (Jan. 13 editorial).

Let me answer a few of your questions or respond to your uninformed observations, Matt.

First, people question tolling I-90 to prop up the tolling of SR 520 because they were concerned about that eventuality back when the end of tolling on the old (and, still, the “current”) Evergreen Point Floating Bridge was in sight.

Laws were passed to codify the principle that you shouldn’t toll one route to support another, and people made long-term decisions about where to locate a business, buy a home, etc. based on those laws and the reality on the ground.

But Matt has drunk the DOT’s grape Kool-Aid when it comes to describing what’s going on along the SR 520 corridor as a “replacement.”

A replacement would be to have a new, four-lane (two-each-way) bridge constructed, assembled, and floated into place. This could have happened years ago with funds that the DOT had in hand.

A slightly better replacement would have been to build a new bridge just enough wider to provide for a break-down lane on each shoulder, giving disabled cars a place to pull over and allowing emergency responders to more quickly reach accidents and medical emergencies.

What we are getting as a “replacement” is, instead, Disneyland on pontoons with new lanes for transit, pedestrians, and bicycles. We’re building massive lids on the Eastside, so where bridges once stood there will be parks and traffic circles.

On the Seattle side, where they don’t have a clue as to how to fund another $2-billion-plus to complete their “vision,” the DOT will be putting in a 1400-foot long lid to make it both pretty and quiet for those folks.

The DOT even “volunteered” some $22-million in SR 520 funds so the UW could turn an $8-million pedestrian overpass into a grand “front porch.”

The $22-million represents five months worth of tolls, so why not give it away?

Maybe Matt can explain why the SR 99 tunnel beneath Seattle is so worthy of tolling, too.

After all, it will have fewer lanes, no downtown exits or on-ramps, and allow other people to enjoy the windfall of better views and property development opportunities.

Why avoid paying tolls on SR 520? Because this so-called “replacement” is jam-packed with goodies for just about everyone except the motoring public that’s paying for it.

Bruce Haigh, Kirkland