Rantz wants to know how tolls for I-405 HOV lanes will help congestion

State officials chose a toll system and more strict requirements in HOV lanes on I-405, rather than expanding the freeway or adding light rail.

Chokepoint: An examination of new HOV, HOT lanes coming to I-405

Multiple options to alleviate congestion were considered, Craig Stone, assistant secretary of the Washington State Department of Transportation Toll Division, told KIRO Radio’s Jason Rantz Show. That included adding 10 lanes.

“Elected officials, in looking at this corridor, came up with a balanced approach,” Stone said in an interview Thursday.

Officials decided to add two HOV lanes, increasing the carpool requirement from two to three people, and adding a toll system.

But Rantz wanted to know how a toll system would reduce congestion.

The reason a toll system was selected, instead of expanding the freeway, was because it would just cause a shift in traffic, Stone explained.

“If we put even 10 lanes in 405, you would bring traffic from I-5,” Stone said. Then, traffic from State Route 99 would transfer to I-5. “The whole system would redistribute.”

Right now, 405 is backed up for nearly eight hours a day; with vehicles moving 45 MPH or less, he said.

The first phase of the toll system will begin next fall, adding more lanes from Bellevue to Lynnwood.

The HOV lanes will be for transit, van- and carpools, people with three or more passengers, and other drivers will to pay for a faster lane. The cost for using the lanes will adjust, based on how much traffic there is at the time. It will cost as much as $10-$12 to use the HOV lanes. The HOV lanes will be less congested, Stone said.

The HOV lanes will be less congested because nobody will want to use them, Rantz responded. It seems like nothing is being done for congestion in the general purpose lanes, he said.

Stone said there will be less demand on general purpose lanes because of the project.

The additional lanes will make it quicker for drivers in HOV lanes and those willing to pay, for sure, Rantz said. The remaining lanes are going to get much worse because fewer people are going to want to pay to use HOV, he said.

Rantz wanted to know if it’s possible to build the roads out of congestion.

The project will reduce congestion, Stone said, but not fix it.

“There’s so much demand, it’s almost impossible to have free flow,” he said.

It’s expected that by 2020, with the additional lanes on I-405, there will still be about four to five hours of congestion.