New numbers show WSDOT vastly underestimated 405 toll lane usage

SEATTLE — New numbers obtained by KIRO 7 show that WSDOT vastly underestimated the number of trips drivers would take using the new Interstate 405 toll lanes in their first full month open.

According to the most recent data available, which is from October, while WSDOT officials had forecast 325,000 trips in the express toll lanes for the month, drivers actually took 950,000 trips.

As a petition against the toll lanes grows beyond 25,000 signatures, two lawmakers want to slash the number of toll lanes in half because they say the Washington Department of Transportation failed to deliver.

“What's out there right now is horrible,” David Hablewitz, one of the members of the group Stop 405 Tolls, said. “I’ve stood out there and watched the traffic on the overpass.”

Sen. Andy Hill said Wednesday that drivers aren’t getting the congestion relief and improvements that WSDOT promised.

“I do not see the ability for DOT to fix this in a timely fashion,” he said. “Clearly, the implementation was not what we thought it was going to be. And it's really a mess.”

Hill and Rep. Mark Harmsworth are proposing big changes through legislation. They want to turn one of the two toll lanes each way into general purpose lanes; open all lanes for unrestricted use between 7 p.m. and 5 a.m.; and add significantly more access to the remaining toll lanes.

“I think where there's a safety issue we leave the double white lines,” Harmsworth said, “but for the rest we open it up as much as we possibly can.”

“I think they're moving in the wrong direction a little bit here,” Hablewitz said.

He pointed out tolls hit their max of $10 last week. He wants lawmakers to get rid of toll lanes altogether and make them just car pool lanes for two or more people.

But WSDOT is standing by the project.

Jennifer Charlebois, director of systems and engineering for the Toll Division, said it’s moving traffic well in all lanes.

“For the most part, we're meeting that 45 mile per hour goal in the express toll lanes,” she said. “We're also seeing that the general purpose lanes are performing better or about the same as they were prior to the express toll lane system.”

As for the lawmakers' proposal to cut lanes, Charlebois said it’s unclear what the costs could be for restriping and changing signs.

She said WSDOT experts will analyze the proposal in the new year.

KIRO