State going to charge us thousands more a year if we don’t say no

Taken from Tuesday’s edition of The Dori Monson Show on KIRO Radio.

It’s a story that we broke on this show over a decade ago. I had a source tell me about the regional tolling plan that was being pushed by Ron Sims and other King County executives. The eventual plan is to make every road a toll road at every time of the day.

That is why when they put in the Good to Go program for the 520 bridge they were so dedicated to getting a transponder on as many vehicles as possible, because once they have a transponder on your car, then they can get you for these new hot lanes that are going on.

We are starting to get details about what the new HOT lane on 405 is going to cost.

The Washington Transportation Department is suggesting the maximum daily rate could be $10 for drivers with a Good to Go pass who want to drive in the express lane after toll lanes are installed on Interstate 405 between Bellevue and Lynnwood. Transportation officials expect the average toll will range from 75 cents to $4.

Related: $10 toll may be possible on Interstate 405 express lane

Ten dollars? KING 5 reports it could be $12 if you don’t have a Good to Go pass.

Now, I want you to think about something that nobody else is talking about. If they can charge people $10 to $12 if the traffic in the other lanes is really bad, does the state have the incentive to alleviate the traffic woes in the region?

Of course not. The worse traffic gets, the more they can charge for these HOT lanes. They have a financial incentive to make sure that traffic around here is horrible, to drive you to desperation so that you’re willing to pay up to $10 so you can get to where you’re going.

Do you want to know why I-5 is jammed all the time? You don’t think they’re going to put a HOT lane on I-5? You don’t think that this is part of a manufactured process to make traffic as horrible as possible to drive you to desperation?

They did it on 167. SR 167 is a nightmare for people who have to drive that highway, so they put in the HOT lane to give you relief, right?

This is an effort to get you for thousands of dollars a year. For those of you who have to cross the Tacoma Narrows Bridge or the 520 bridge, you know what that is like. You’re talking about thousands of dollars per family for that daily use, and it’s not enough, they want more of our money.

The eventual plan is to make every road a toll road at every time of the day. It might be 20 cents to drive from your house to the grocery store, to drive your kids to school. But they eventually want to get a transponder on every car. They want to toll you for everywhere you drive.

Be aware, unless the public eventually says, ‘No we cannot afford thousands of dollars a year just to drive around the region,’ they are continuing this plan, unabated so far.

Taken from Tuesday’s edition of The Dori Monson Show on KIRO Radio.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

JS