Washington considers gas tax
SKATTLK (AIM — The dev
astating California earthquake
has renewed interest tn Wash
ington's efforts to beef up
quake-sensitive bridges and
freeways, a costly undertaking
that may require a gas-tax increase.
The state is three years into a 20-vear program to
retrofit more than 1.000 bridges considered vul
nerable to earthquake damage, and the question
of cost still has not been resolved. Washington state
engineers say they need at least $12.5 million a year
to do the work, but the Legislature has set aside only
a fraction of that amount.
State Senate Transportation Committee (Chair
man Larry Vognild. D-Fverett. said Tuesday he
wouldn't lie averse to putting a measure on the bal
lot seeking voter approval for a gasoline-tax increase
to pay for seismic work. But highway officials will
first have to prove the retrofitting is critical and can
lie done in a reasonable time. Vognild said
It would take a 2-cent-a-gallon increase in the
gasoline levy to fully pay for the retrofit program.
Vognild said, bach penny increase would generate
about $27 million a year.
When told of Vognild's comments, House Trans
portation Committee Chairwoman Ruth Fisher said
she. too. would lie willing to consider using the gas
tax to cover these expenses.
But like Vognild, she needs to he convinced.
"There may be a need for that, hut we don t know
it yet. We will take a look at it." Fisher said.
Before any new tax can be passed. Initiative 601
requires a statewide public vote — providing both
houses support such an increase.
State Transportation Secretary Sid Morrison has
ordered his engineers to determine whether a case
can be made for more money to upgrade state
bridges.
"I come down on the side of giving us the
resources so we won't look hack and say. Why
didn't wp make the investment? Mortison n»id
Washington's freeway overpasses and bridges
probably would hold up pretty well in a 1.0* Ange
les-sue earthquake, statu bridge engineers say but
only if tl were one of Washington's typical IT to
15-second temblors
The lays Angeles area quake measureft 6.6 on the
Richter scale and lasted about 30 seconds, shaking
apart a number of key highway bridges
"I think we would do very well with one of that
magnitude," said Ed Henley, Department of I rans
portation bridge planner "It would depend on how
long it lasted "
In the past three years, the state Department of
Transportation has used steel I sirs to reinforce many
bridges on Interstate* five and 405 and Washington
highways 4 It) and 512. so they can iletter withstand
quakes, said Mvint Lwin. bridge engineer for the
department.
Officials say more attention also needs to tie paid
to reinforcing masonry buildings, which can crum
ble in earthquakes, and to search-and-rescue pre
paredness
Scientists say the Pacific Northwest is prime ter
ritory for a severe quake Western Washington
quakes in 1949 and 1965 each killed seven people.
Not only can it happen here, it's inevitable."
said Pal McElroy. deputy supervisor of the state
Department of Natural Resoun es
Unlike California quakes, which are generally
caused when pieces of the Earth's crust slip hori
zontally along fault lines, the Northwest's great
quakes have been caused by crustal plates collid
ing head-on. scientists say. Those plates meet 100
miles or so off the Northwest coast, from northern
California to British Columbia.
A recent Department of Natund Resources report
predicts earthquakes in Washington with a magni
tude of 6 on the Richter scale every 10 years Earth
quakes with magnitude greater than 6 are likely
to occur every 35 to 110 years, the rtiport says.
Oregon’s structures
not ready for quake
PORTLAND (AIM — An earthquake of the size that crippled
Lo* Angeles would do even more damage in Oregon, where
many of the buildings aren't as safe ns those in Southern Cali
fornia.
"If you like what you see in l,o* Angeles, you will see it hem
in Oregon and even worse in Portland if we have a similar earth
quake." said lan Madin. Oregon state seismic hazard geologist.
"Our buildings aren't as well-constructed as those in l~A."
The l.os Angelos quake, measuring fi.fl on the Richter scale,
killed at least 42 people and badly damaged buildings, freeways
and utilities.
"What Monday's quake is telling us is that Los Angeles got
off fairly lightly because they have been strengthening build
ings," Madin said. "But we don't have a fraction of the strength
in Portland buildings that they hove in their structures."
The fault that caused the quake was a "thrust” type, mean
ing one side of the fault pushes up over the other side, said |ohn
Minsch. geophysicist with the National Earthquake Informa
tion Center in Golden. Colo.
Madin said dozens of active thrust faults have been identi
fied off the Oregon Coast in recent years.
"Those faults are port of the Casoadia Subduct ion Zone, which
itself is a very, very large thrust fault," Madin said. This zone
could produce a magnitude 8 or 9 earthquake.
"When you come farther inland, there is a possibility of thrust
faulting in the Willamette Valley and In the Portland area."
he said.
The quake in Los Angeles did major damage to freeways that
carry commerce to and from the Northwest.
Sunrise Express Inc. of Vancouver. Wash., usually dispatch
es IS trucks a day from Lo* Angeles to the Portland area on the
company's sole long-distance route. But Monday, only two
trucks found paths out of earthquake-damaged Los Angeles
“Everything is on hold." said |oe kulavik. who owns the busi
ness. "At this point in time, wo feel the emergency vehicles
need those roads more than we do."
Student dies in fail from
12th-story fire escape
CHENEY. Wash. (AP) — East
ern Washington University offi
cials are trying to find out how a
student fell 12 stories to Ins
death from a residence hall fire
escape.
Jeffrey A. Garner. 24, of Kirk
land. died instantly Monday
evening in the full from the top
floor of Pearce Hall. EWIJ
spokeswoman Stephanie Pettit
said Tuesday.
Police found a note and a let
ter at Garner's off-campus apart
ment that both mentioned sui
cide and were investigating the
possibility that he killed him
self, said Lt. Vic Wallace of the
campus police.
"Nobody actually saw him
jump, so we are afraid to say it
was a suicide for sure," Wallace
said.
Authorities also were trying to
determine who (lamer may have
been visiting and how he could
have fallen from a fenced cat
walk that leads to an enclosed
fire escape tower, Pettit said
"We art) trying to determine if
there was anyone there that he
knew.” Pettit said "So far, we
have not been able to find any
one."
Fencing on both sides of the
catwalk is about 5—feet tall, Pet
tit said.
Garner was in the dormitory
when a smoke alarm on the
dorm's seventh floor tripped a
fire alarm about 7:25 p.m. Some
students using the catwalk say
they passed Garner Others on
the ground saw him fall
Garner was a sophomore who
returned to classes in the win
ter quarter after a two-year hia
tus lie was enrolled in a single
class and had declared no major.
Pettit said
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