Gov. Inslee requests changes to I-405 express toll lanes

Washington Gov. Jay Inslee announced a series of changes to the I-405 corridor, including the removal of tolls during certain periods.

“We need to make these express toll lanes more beneficial for all drivers &#8212 those who use the lanes, and those who don’t,” Inslee said.

“This is a learning process the entire state is undergoing,” he said, noting that the state will adjust the tolling algorithm it uses to charge drivers in the express toll lanes.

The changes total 14, six of which have already been done. Notably among the changes, the governor wants to remove tolls on I-405 during non-peak evening hours. He has instructed the Washington State Department of Transportation to work with the state’s transportation commission to make it happen as early as spring. Tolls could also go away on weekends and holidays.

Inslee also announced two programs to replace the region’s aging expansion joints. Broken joints have spurred emergency repairs on Washington’s freeways, resulting in traffic jams. The governor is increasing funding for the state’s incident response teams.

Inslee aims to fund 10 more teams with the belief that quickly cleaning up accidents will improve drive times. He noted that the current teams responded to more than 50,000 incidents on Washington roads in 2015.

“They respond to an incident every 10 minutes with our existing capacity and we want to increase that capacity. They have a cleanup time of 13 minutes,” Inslee said. “Clearing roads of congestion and keeping traffic moving – they provided nearly $80 million in economic benefit.”

Brief history of the express toll lanes

Whether I-405 has provided relief for drivers has been relative. A recent study by Kirkland-based traffic firm INRIX concluded congestion has become worse since the toll lanes opened. The state and a University of Washington professor, argue INRIX’s conclusions are grossly misleading.

Related: I-405 troubles could sink Gov. Inslee’s administration

The toll lanes led, at least in part, to the firing of the former secretary of the Washington State Department of Transportation. The Senate voted to deny Lynn Peterson’s appointment earlier this month.

The state recently admitted the toll lanes have made traffic worse on the north end of the corridor. Possible congestion relief could include opening shoulder driving during scheduled times during the day.

A recent report revealed the state took in $3.7 million from the tolls from September to the end of 2015. As KIRO Radio’s Chris Sullivan reported, the bulk of that money will go back into infrastructure; a small percentage is used to pay for the system itself.

Details of I-405 Express Toll Lanes Improvements, according to WSDOT:

Completed Adjustments:

SB I-405 at NE 160th St: Added skip stripes to better define the start of second express toll lane and inside general purpose lane. (October 1st, 2015)

NB I-405 at NE 6th St: Added clarifying pavement markings to eliminate driver confusion and extended existing access point. (December 18th, 2015)

SB I-405 at SR 527: Lengthened access point to the north to allow drivers more time to merge into and out of the express toll lanes. (December 18th, 2015)

NB I-405 at I-5: Lengthened access point to allow drivers additional time to merge to I-5. (January 22nd, 2016)

NB I-405 access at SR 527: Lengthened access point to allow drivers additional time to merge in and out of the express toll lanes. (January 22nd, 2016)

Entire Corridor: WSDOT made changes to the algorithm which calculates toll rates to respond to the demand for the lanes and to keep the express toll lanes moving. (Ongoing)

Planned Adjustments:

SB I-405 at NE 6th St: Adding pavement markings to clarify for drivers the exit to NE 6th St and which lane continues onto I-405 southbound. (February)

NB I-405 at SR 520: Adjust the access type and length to provide more open access to the express toll lane. This will improve general purpose congestion in the SR 520 interchange area during afternoon commutes and weekends. (March – weekend closure and weather dependent)

NB at NE 160th St: Adding additional signage and lengthening access point to provide driver clarity and more time to merge to SR 522. (Next few months)

Monitoring on the entire corridor:

Continue to monitor corridor traffic patterns and operations at these locations:

SB NE 70th Pl to SR 520 – Evaluating greater access for Kirkland; NB and SB 3 lane section between SR 522 and I-5 – Evaluate options to address limited capacity in section of I-405 with three lanes; SB SR 522 to NE 160th St – Evaluate access improvements to address demand during morning peak

Future projects:

WSDOT has not done detailed engineering or traffic analysis on the future projects listed below. Some of this work would need to be done to better understand costs and phasing opportunities for all options.

Additional funding would allow WSDOT to better define the project’s scope including the environmental needs and to conduct a practical design review of the larger capacity improvement projects.

NB I-405 between SR 520 and NE 70th Place: Add northbound auxiliary lane between SR 520 and NE 70th Place.

Timeline: Environmental document needed, 1-3 years open to traffic after funding approved. This timeline depends upon environmental impacts, such as fish passage. Cost: $5-30 million depending on existing constraints and environmental fish passage issue.

NB I-405 between SR 527 and I-5: Add a general purpose hard running shoulder on northbound I-405 from SR 527 to I-5

Timeline: Environmental document needed, 2 years open to traffic after funding approved. This timeline depends upon environmental impacts, such as noise walls, fish passage. Cost: $30-50 million

Richard D. Oxley contributed to this article. This article uses information provided by WSDOT.