Is state trying to change toll benchmarks because they can’t meet them?
Feb 14, 2019, 7:01 AM
The toll lanes on 405. (WSDOT)
(WSDOT)
Is the Washington Department of Transportation trying to change the benchmarks set for the express toll lanes because it continually fails to achieve one of them? That’s the accusation some are leveling because of a bill circulating in Olympia.
SB 5825 focuses, primarily, on giving the Washington Department of Transportation the authority to extend the Express Toll Lanes between Bellevue and Renton, which has been the plan for years. It also would make the 167 HOT lanes a permanent tolled facility, ending their renewable pilot project status. This would allow the state to add tolling to the 167 and 509 extensions, known as the Gateway Project.
There is nothing new with any of that. But this bill would also allow the state to change the benchmarks for express toll lanes on I-405. When they were allowed on I-405 between Lynnwood and Bellevue, there were two benchmarks set that the lanes had to meet: make enough money to pay for the system; and provide a 45 mph drive, 90 percent of the time during peak hours. The lanes only met one of those benchmarks.
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I-405’s express toll lanes are making plenty of money. Through the first three years, the lanes have generated nearly $75 million, which is $50 million more than operation costs. But the lanes have never met the average speed benchmark over the entire corridor. The stretch between Lynnwood and Bothell, where there is only one toll lane, just drags the entire average down. The entire corridor reaches 45 miles an hour around 80 percent of the time.
The bill would allow “an alternate metric determined by the department in conjunction with the federal highway administration.” Senator Curtis King doesn’t like that change.
“It’s a way to get the pressure off of them, but I think there needs to be pressure,” King said. “We’re collecting millions of dollars from the people that are in these toll lanes, and they need to be assured that it’s going to be worth their while.”
King was the head of the senate transportation committee when the tolls started. He’s now the ranking member. He would like the state to fix any issues that are keeping it from achieving the benchmarks before changing the benchmarks.
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“I’m not of the mindset that I am ready to do that yet,” Senator King said about supporting the bill. “When you’re paying extra money, there needs to be results, and I think WSDOT needs to be held accountable for those results.”
He believes the current benchmarks are reasonable. So why the potential change?
WSDOT argues that there is no bait-and-switch here. It is not trying to get out of the original benchmarks. It comes down to federal changes that might be coming. This language was added because the federal benchmarks on toll lanes might be changing, and it wants to be in compliance with any new federal language covering tolled facilities. The state said many urban tolled facilities across the country are failing to meet the 45 miles per hour/90 percent of the time measurement and that might force the Federal Highway Administration might make a change in how they’re graded.
