Commuters traveling alone on I-405 between Lynnwood and Bellevue will be able to pay for the option of driving in new carpool lanes if a bill proposed in Olympia becomes law.
House Bill 1382 would set aside lanes on I-405 for carpools and single-occupant vehicles who pay a toll. Two new lanes, one in each direction, would be built on I-405 between Highway 522 and downtown Bellevue. One other existing lane would be set aside for carpools and toll drivers as well.
The existing single carpool lanes in each direction would be used between Lynnwood and Highway 522.
The concept is similar to a high-occupancy toll lane, or “HOT” lane, used on Highway 167 between Renton and Auburn for three years now.
Right now, anyone can drive in I-405’s carpool lanes between 7 p.m. and 5 a.m.
A similar bill authorizing tolls on I-405 was approved last year by the House of Representatives but failed to pass the Senate.
Building the lanes and implementing the plan would cost an estimated $2 billion, with about two-thirds of that expected to be recovered in tolls over 30 years, said Kim Henry, manager of the I-405-Highway 167 toll lanes project for the state Department of Transportation.
The bill does not propose a toll amount. The rates would likely be set by the state Transportation Commission and approved by the Legislature, Henry said. Rates also would be continually adjusted to get enough drivers in the toll lanes to encourage their use but not so many as to slow down the toll lanes, he said.
The bill is co-sponsored by five House Democrats, including state Rep. Marko Liias, D-Edmonds.
The bill does not specify whether carpools must consist of a driver and one passenger or more, or a driver plus at least two passengers. According to a study done last year for the state Department of Transportation, the plan — which assumes that a carpool would consist of a driver plus two passengers — would move more cars through the corridor than the current configuration.
The study doesn’t say, however, if those results hold up if a carpool is allowed to have only one passenger as opposed to two, said Michael Ennis, director of transportation for the Washington Policy Center in Seattle, a conservative think tank.
Henry said the tolls would be adjusted accordingly until the ratio of traffic in the toll lanes versus other lanes comes out the same either way.
“It will always be priced so you’re always moving the same volume of traffic through,” he said.
The state’s long-term plan eventually calls for similar toll-carpool lanes all the way from Lynnwood to Puyallup on I-405 and Highway 167, Henry said.
Methods such as HOT lanes, straight tolls on freeways, bridges and arterials, and fees for miles driven will be needed to pay for road improvements in the future, according to Transportation 2040, a plan by the Puget Sound Regional Council, a regional planning agency.
Liias said he co-sponsored the bill partly because the state’s study was led by an expert review panel with members across the political spectrum from around the nation.
“They came to the conclusion this was the best way to get improvements made to I-405 in a timely way,” Liias said.
Also, he said, with toll-carpool lanes, “drivers always have a free option. You can always choose to drive in the free lanes.”
Bill Sheets: 425-339-3439; sheets@heraldnet.com.
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