Partisan Olympia makes moves to address 405 tolling issues
Published 10:18 am Monday, February 8, 2016
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After massive public dissatisfaction with the Interstate 405 express toll lanes, Olympia is taking action.
Washington state Sen. Andy Hill (R-Redmond) is the lead sponsor of a bill looking to repeal the tolling between 7 p.m. and 5 a.m., and it has garnered the support of other local politicians seeing the outrage of their constituents, including Sens. Steve Litzow (R-Bellevue) and Cyrus Habib (D-Bellevue).
The bill, the largely Republican-supported SB 6152 passed the Washington Senate committee on transportation this week and will head to the rules committee.
In it, the legislators ask that “toll charges may not be assessed and minimum vehicle occupancy requirements are not permitted in the corridor identified in this section between the hours of 7:00 p.m. and 5:00 a.m. or at any time on state holidays.”
Litzow, one of the sponsors of the bill, explained his support.
“The implementation of the 405 tolling lanes has been less than stellar,” he said. “The Department of Transportation hasn’t figured out the right balance. The goal isn’t to make money on these tolls, the goal is to improve congestion.”
The toll lanes have seen more traffic than anticipated and have raised nearly four times the amount of money that was expected in the first months of operation.
Litzow said he and Sen. Hill had been discussing giving toll users a refund.
Democrats have been working with Washington State Department of Transportation to keep the tolls actively working without legislative action.
State Rep. Judy Clibborn (D-Mercer Island) has taken flak for her support of the toll lanes. She worked with the department of transportation last week to make changes. The House Democrats issued a release and a letter which Clibborn and several other local Democrats signed.
“While congestion has improved along many stretches of I-405, it’s clear that more work needs to be done. But these changes don’t require legislation – just strong oversight and a willingness to work together,” Clibborn said.
Critics of the Express Toll Lanes have decried the lanes as a costly, ineffective, unwanted and dangerous addition to Washington’s most congested corridor. Stop405Tolls’s David Hablewitz, a Bothell resident and one of seven members of the group’s leadership, has written multiple posts on the matter and the department’s data.
A billing error in December brought more scrutiny on the lanes as well.
Proponents claim the lanes have reduced congestion in the corridor and have raised toll money. According to the department of transportation’s own findings,
The state senate bill also desires a single express toll lane from South Bellevue north until I-405 meets I-5 in Lynnwood (the entire tolled length of I-405).
Another facet of the bill could change the lanes utterly.
“Each express toll lane must use continuous access striping except at specific locations where safety concerns related to vehicle ingress and egress require the use of access restrictions,” it reads. “Any other express toll lane or high occupancy vehicle lane may not be constructed or operated on Interstate 405 between the city of Bellevue on the south end and Interstate 5 on the north end.”
The unrestricted access to the lanes would go in the face of the solid double white lines which are currently illegal to cross. Opponents of the lanes have noted that the relatively brief time motorists can legally enter and exit the lanes have created a pressure point.
The “bottleneck” where I-405 narrows from five lanes to three lanes near Bothell has been another area of concern for motorists and legislators alike. However, the risk of these continuous access striping contains the potential for abuse under the current system by motorists wishing to avoid tolls while gaining the benefits of the express lanes.
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