SEATTLE — The toll rates to cross the State Route 520 bridge increased on Sunday.
The rates went up 2.5 percent and it is the first toll hike.
KIRO 7 Eyewitness News spoke with Ron Hanson, a driver, on what he thought about the new price.
“Economically, it’s sound for the state. They have to generate some funds, and this is a way to do it,” Hanson said.
Before July 1, the cost to cross the bridge was $3.50 with a Good To Go! pass and $5 to pay by mail. After the hike, it will cost drivers $0.09 more with the pass and $0.13 by mail.
Another driver, Judie O’Brien, told KIRO 7 she was not happy with the increased prices.
“I know local businesses, such as the coffee house up the street, lost 20 percent since the tolling, and they’ve changed their hours,” O’Brien said. “I have an aversion to tolling, period. I didn’t support it when it first went in. So to have the rates increase, I think is outrageous.”
The bridge’s tolls will continue to increase their prices yearly for four more years.
The SR 520 bridge tolls are not the one ones increasing on Sunday. The cost to drive eastbound on the Tacoma Narrows Bridge will increase by more than a dollar.