If a Washington state lawmaker has his way, commercial trucks would travel along a 100-mile, toll road from the southwest part of the state to Interstate 90, bypassing the congested Seattle area.

A study commissioned by the Washington Legislature suggests the trucks-only tollway – a goal of Sen. Dan Swecker – might work.

As Swecker sees it, the revised commerce corridor would be three lanes wide – one in each direction and some type of passing lane – and for long-haul trucks only. A limited number of exits would be built.

A public meeting on the proposal is scheduled from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. Nov. 23 at the Lewis County Courthouse, 351 NW North Street, Chehalis, WA 98532.

The proposal is quite different from Swecker’s 2002 vision of a 700-foot-wide “commercial corridor” for cars, trucks, trains and utilities running from Southwest Washington to the Canadian border, The Associated Press reported.

The $500,000 draft study by the state Transportation Department says the corridor “is too long, has too many components and is too complex.”

Instead, the study suggested “further exploration” for a trucks-only road to move commercial trucks along the stretch between I-90 and Chehalis, a section that has five times as much truck traffic as I-5 between Seattle and Canada.

Swecker, a Rochester Republican and co-vice chairman of the Senate Highways and Transportation Committee, couldn’t be happier. He’s been plugging for a new highway north from his district since he took office a decade ago.

As envisioned, a private entity would construct the route and collect tolls. The public might have to chip in for rights of way, Swecker told The AP.

If just half of the 22,000 trucks that roll down I-5 south from Seattle each day used the toll route – at 60 cents per mile, or $60 for a one-way run – its $5 billion price tag could be justified, the study suggests.