Right or wrong and good or bad are perhaps the wrong dynamic filters for viewing the pending toll increases on the Tacoma Narrows Bridge that, by design, will likely continue to grow. Ultimately, the state’s bond rating depends on it.

Most see the eastbound bridge as a $735 million mile-long shortcut to work or recreation, but in truth the cost will compound just like your mortgage and reach $1.5 billion by the time tolls have repaid the bonds that built it. The bridge is really better viewed as very expensive three bedroom two bath waterfront with a unique view of the Tacoma Narrows.

Why the judgement should be reserved lies in the fact the method used to sell the public the $750 million bridge for $1.5 billion mirrors the way most people end up buying flat screens, boats and trucks. More specifically, the bridge financing mirrors the ballooning payment schedule scene as one of the causes of the housing collapse that started the “Great Recession.” Starting at $4.3 million in 2005 payments climb steeply through 2029.

Starting next year each year’s required debt payments will be more than $100 million through each biennium budget ending at $173 million for the penultimate payment. And pay we must.

The state sold the bridge toll with introductory rates designed to entice and it seems to have worked, largely. We live in a community that ranges in its bridge usage from not at all to spending thousands in crossing fees every year. According to the State Transportation Commission 72 percent of users are on the good to go system paying the cheapest rate per crossing. Cheaters only make up 2 percent. Looking back 10 years from now, when the biennium payment will have doubled, the proposed increased rates of $4 to $7 per eastbound crossing for 2013 will seem like $2-a-gallon gas in a $7 dollar-per-gallon gas world