Lessons on road to I-405 tolls

Published 4:31 pm Friday, March 18, 2016

Thanks to lawmaker ears that, because of the election season, are now more finely attuned, the squeaky wheels driving I-405 got their grease; the interstate’s toll lanes between Lynnwood and Bellevue will be open to general traffic during early morning and evening hours and weekends.

No carpool restrictions. No tolls. The overhead signs that otherwise announce toll rates will read “Open to all.”

For the first time since the high-occupancy toll lanes were opened on north- and southbound I-405 in late September, the toll lane hours will be limited to 5 a.m. to 7 p.m. on weekdays.

Following valid complaints that the toll lanes had increased congestion for northbound drivers through Bothell during the afternoon commute, lawmakers responded with proposals to cut the number of toll lanes to one from two, or limit the hours of their operation.

Among other tweaks, lawmakers and Gov. Jay Inslee called to limit the hours, and the state Transportation Commission agreed to emergency rules while it completes an official rule-making process that is expected to take several months.

As part of that process the commission will have to consider how effective the change has been in relieving congestion, but at the same time it will have to balance one of the original goals of the toll lanes, which was to keep traffic flowing in those lanes at 45 mph to help public transit buses stay on schedule as well as provide incentive to carpool commuters.

Community Transit, which operates its routes and Sound Transit’s routes on I-405, wrote the commission with its concerns that the change in toll lane hours could reverse the improvements it had seen since September. Its suggestion: allow general traffic to use the lanes unless speeds drop below 45 mph. When it slows below that, turn the toll signs back on.

State Department of Transportation officials and lawmakers were responsive and acted quickly to make what changes they could to resolve congestion problems, including restriping of lanes to allow more time to enter and exit.

As well, the Legislature’s supplemental transportation budget provides $30 million — although not until 2017-19 — to convert the right shoulders of I-405 into a general purpose lane between Bothell and Lynnwood and another $250,000 to identify other projects that would add capacity on the same stretch.

It’s been a bumpy ride for the toll lane project. The Good to Go system — the transponders that carpool drivers use to identify themselves as a carpool and the system used to set up accounts to pay tolls — remains complicated and labor intensive for users, requiring carpool and toll drivers to buy a transponder and setup an online payment account. And there were billing problems early on with the vendor collecting tolls for the state.

As long as we’re getting mileage out of transportation cliches, the state’s problem was in putting the cart before the horse when it implemented the high-occupancy tolls on I-405 before it had made improvements to the interstate and its tolling system that would have likely lessened the impact caused by the lanes and kept everybody happier.

Before transportation officials and lawmakers make any plans to extend the toll lanes elsewhere, they need to get things right on I-405 and use what they learned.