SEATTLE NEWS ARCHIVES & FEATURES
I-405 toll rates are ‘guaranteed to skyrocket’ Dori says
Oct 6, 2015, 3:06 PM | Updated: Oct 7, 2015, 6:20 am
After WSDOT released initial findings from I-405's new express toll lanes, KIRO Radio's Dori Monson predicts that the tolls won't remain low. (WSDOT image)
(WSDOT image)
After the initial results of the new I-405 express toll lanes were made public, KIRO Radio’s Dori Monson predicts that drivers can expect one thing: toll rates are going to skyrocket.
“I am telling you what nobody else is reporting — and that is these tolls are guaranteed to skyrocket,” Monson said.
“It is in their financial interest to create as much gridlock as possible in the general purpose lanes, so desperate motorists will pay as much as they possibly can afford to use the toll lane,” he said.
The average toll paid during the first week of the express toll lanes was $1.50 in the southbound lanes, and $1 in the northbound lanes, according to the Washington State Department of Transportation.
The trade off for some drivers getting a faster commute is that collisions on I-405 more than doubled. Collisions on I-405 went from 48 during the same week in 2014, to 119 after the lanes opened on Sept. 27.
WSDOT reports that overall drive times have improved while volumes have increased.
But Monson argues that this is just the beginning of the express toll lanes and tolls will not remain so low.
“But you must understand, they are authorized to charge up to $10. And their goal is to get those transponders, those Good to Go passes, on as many cars as possible,” he said. “And then, if you start using that toll lane, it’s only $1.50. But if everybody starts using it, that lane will get clogged. Then they will jack the price up to $3. And if it’s still too clogged, they will go up to $5.”
“Look at the Narrows Bridge — what that toll started at and what it’s at today,” he said as an example. “Every time the government has access to increasing a tax or a fee, they do. When a private company in Texas is partnered with [WSDOT] — to create as much gridlock as possible — so they can make as much profit as possible, they will. These tolls are going to skyrocket. Do not be lulled into complacency by this.”
It’s important for drivers to understand that toll rates could spike, Dori said, because he suspects that WSDOT’s aim is to place tolls on most of the Puget Sound region’s roads.
“They are turning up the water so they can boil the frogs, eventually,” Dori said. “We’re the little froggies that don’t realize this isn’t a nice hot tub that we are soaking in. It’s about to come to a boil.”
