Viable funding, and more
Published 12:14 pm Monday, December 26, 2011
A major reshaping of how we pay for our highways — and how we use them — may be about to begin.
At 5 a.m. Thursday, tolls will be charged for cars crossing the busy Highway 520 floating bridge across Lake Washington. Relatively few commuters from Snohomish County will be affected directly; not many use the span that connects Seattle and its eastern suburbs on a daily basis. This implementation of tolling, however, is likely to have a far-reaching impact here and in other densely populated corners of Washington. Much stands to be learned by how commuters react to it.
State Department of Transportation officials expect that about 20 percent of the 100,000 daily trips over the 520 bridge will divert to I-90, a parallel route to the south, to avoid paying the new toll. Another 5 percent could move another direction, taking Highway 522 around the north end of the lake.
Other, more positive commuter adjustments are expected, too. Transit ridership figures to increase, as does carpooling and vanpooling. And because tolls on 520 will vary according to the time of day — an effort to manage traffic patterns and reduce congestion — it will be instructive to see how commuting patterns might change. Will we see employers more willing to offer flexible work hours? More telecommuting? Both would be helpful.
Transportation planners will be watching closely how well congestion pricing works. Tolls on 520 will be $3.50 each way during the morning and afternoon rush hours for drivers with a prepaid “Good To Go” sticker on their vehicle, and lower at less-congested times. (No tolls will be charged between 11 p.m. and 5 a.m.)
Commuter response will help shape how tolls are structured in the near future on some lanes of I-405 — a corridor that is used by plenty of Snohomish County commuters.
Tolling is emerging as one of the most important revenue sources for major transportation projects. With gas taxes paid per-vehicle declining as cars become more fuel-efficient, and voters’ demonstrated aversion to higher car-tab fees, tolling represents a fair user-fee that can remain viable into the future. Coupled with congestion pricing, it can also improve traffic flow at a much lower cost than adding more highway lanes.
If demand for transit rises as a result (as we hope it will), some of that new revenue will need to be directed there to keep up with demand.
Nobody loves paying tolls. The potential benefits, though — adequate and well-maintained highways, better traffic-flow management, more flexible working hours, greater use of transit — may well be worth it.
