Woman doubles mortgage payment to move away from I-405 toll lanes
Feb 17, 2016, 4:26 PM
Mikiko Toner spends 30 minutes each way commuting from Woodinville to Bellevue -- avoiding the I-405 toll lanes altogether. (KIRO 7)
(KIRO 7)
Mikiko Toner used to spend three hours a day driving to and from work — a commuting nightmare that included I-405.
Not anymore.
“It was horrible,” said Toner, who moved from Monroe to Woodinville — doubling her mortgage payment — to avoid the controversial new toll lanes, which debuted in September.
She and her husband moved in September, too.
Toner now spends 30 minutes each way commuting from Woodinville to Bellevue — avoiding the I-405 toll lanes altogether.
Her commute from Monroe to Bellevue used to take 90 minutes each way.
Saving two hours a day is “wonderful,” she says, even as many of her co-workers who live in Bothell complain about how much traffic they are now experiencing along 405.
She and her husband were already used to the slog on I-405 before the toll lanes.
As soon as she heard about the toll lanes, she started looking to move.
In September, they moved — and they have no regrets.
“We doubled our mortgage by moving here. But it was worth it,” said Toner.
“We definitely moved to get our life back. And we definitely have,” she added.
WSDOT says most trips along 405 have actually become faster, except on weekends and in the afternoons going northbound out of Bothell.
But with commuter anger growing — including a petition to close the toll lanes that has more than 30,000 signatures — Toner can only say this: she got out just in time.
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