Anniversary bells toll for charging drivers crossing 520 bridge
Dec 27, 2012, 12:25 PM | Updated: 1:04 pm
A year into tolling the 520 bridge, the Washington State Department of Transportation said it's going better than expected. (KIRO Radio Photo/Chris Sullivan)
(KIRO Radio Photo/Chris Sullivan)
A year into tolling the 520 bridge, the Washington State Department of Transportation said it’s going better than expected.
Eighty-four percent of drivers are using the Good to Go Pass and only four percent of drivers are blowing off the electronic tolls. Tolling director Craig Stone said plenty of drivers are still avoiding the bridge to avoid paying the toll.
“We’re running about 70,000 trips a day across 520,” Stone said. “We used to be about 100,000. So that’s about a 30 percent drop.”
So where are those drivers going? Traffic is up 11 percent on I-90. It’s up nine percent on Highway 522. Transit ridership is up nine percent, and VanPool use is up 39 percent.
Despite the diversion, toll revenues for the year are about $50 million. “We’re very pleased with it,” said Stone. “It’s been a great program, but it’s early. We’re only one year into it.”
Stone said the legislature has asked WSDOT to take another look at tolling I-90 to help pay for the rest of the 520 project. That will happen in 2013.
Starting this month, about 10,000 vehicles will be denied their registration tabs until their owners pay their back tolls and fees from trips across the 520 bridge.
