Tolls to go up on 520 bridge this summer
May 22, 2013, 12:50 PM | Updated: 1:14 pm
Beginning in July, it’ll cost you more to drive across the 520 bridge.
The Washington State Transportation Commission unanimously approved a 2.5 percent rate hike Wednesday, meaning the peak hour toll for Good to Go pass holders will increase to $3.70. The new rate for pay-by-mail drivers will increase to $5.25.
When tolls were first imposed in December 2011, traffic volumes went down dramatically. “The level of traffic is going back I think as people realize they can move a lot faster across the bridge,” says Dan O’Neal, Chair of the state transportation commission.
The plan is for tolls to increase by 2.5 percent each year until after the new bridge opens, sometime in 2015. Then, in 2016, tolls will increase another 15-percent.
“I don’t think anybody likes to pay more for anything if they can avoid it, but if we want to build this bridge we have to find the revenue to do it,” says O’Neal.
