The letter from Herb Schiessl titled “Money not well spent at ferry terminal” questions the costs to implement the reservations program, pointing to a recently-awarded $199.5 million contract. Mr. Schiessl is correct that SR20 MP55.67 is the DOT milepost for the Anacortes terminal, but that has nothing to do with that particular contract. That was for one of the famous highway mega-projects, the western approach to the new 520 floating bridge, and has nothing to do with ferries.

As mentioned, the costs for the reservations system do include some additional personnel at Anacortes, which frankly should have been added some time ago. And there is a project on the WSDOT books to widen the SR20 approach to the terminal, but not until 2017-2019.

It is great to see folks keeping an eye on how the state spends our money, but we should all be careful to keep our facts straight.

Jim Corenman

Chairman, SJC Ferry Advisory Committee