Drivers might not be warming up to I-405 tolls lanes

Drivers are warming up to the I-405 express toll lanes. At least, that’s what the Washington State Department of Transportation says.

KIRO Radio’s Chris Sullivan reported that drivers might be avoiding the tolls and congestion on I-405, causing more traffic elsewhere. WSDOT was quick to respond.

Related: Some drivers still confused

“A whole lot of drivers are going into the express toll lanes,” WSDOT wrote on the KIRO Radio Facebook page. “Express toll lane usage went up 25% in 2 days.”

Indeed. According to WSDOT’s own report, the department saw an increase of 25 percent more drivers between Monday through Wednesday. WSDOT notes usage went up 20 percent Tuesday and 5 percent Wednesday. However, the department didn’t give actual numbers, only percentages. So it’s unclear how many people are actually using the lanes.

If the reaction by KIRO Radio listeners to the toll lanes is an indication of their popularity, the percentage of people using the tolls isn’t likely to increase very quickly. And Sullivan’s original report that people are choosing alternative routes for their daily commute may be accurate.

“524 is filled with cars at 6:30 a.m.,” Susan Brigham wrote on Facebook. “I used [to] just zip to work with hardly any traffic. I had a lot of company this morning.”

Other people were a little more direct.

“Write a letter to your local city council and get them to stand up against this crap!” Dane Stephenson wrote. “Bothell is in gridlock twice daily because the state pushed so many cars off the 405.”

Some called the toll lanes greedy and a “war on cars.” But not all comments were negative.

Mark Hopkins seemed fine with less traffic on I-405.

“Let ’em go wherever!” he wrote. “All week we’ve had <30 minute commute MLT to Factoria, and we're LOVING it ... stay out of the ETL! LOL (smilie emoticon)"

A week before the tolls kicked off on Sept. 27, the mayor of Kenmore told KING 5 he wants a cut of the toll money to cover the costs of traffic congestion through his city.

“We have data that we can then go to the state Legislature and say the tolling revenue should be used to help communities that are suffering because of people avoiding tolls,” Baker said.

In March, Representative Mark Harmsworth (R-Mill Creek) told KIRO Radio’s Dori Monson voters in his district were worried about potential congestion.

“It’s not going to help the general purpose lanes,” Harmsworth said. “The way it’s structured right now, it’s not really about the congestion relief. It’s about generating revenue.”