The state House passed a pair of bills Saturday that would authorize tolling on major Eastside highways.
House Bill 1382 narrowly passed by a 52-46 margin. The bill authorizes high-occupancy toll (HOT) lanes in which single drivers can pay to use carpool lanes, as with the system on State Route 167.
Opposition Republicans made amendments in attempt to stop general purpose lanes built with gas tax funds from being tolled and exempt cars with two occupants from tolls, both of which failed.
The vote was taken largely across party lines, which may also be the case in the Senate. Democrats hold a 27-22 majority.
House Transportation Chair Judy Clibborn (D-Mercer Island) said Republicans “locked up” on the bill, a practice that collectively prohibits the GOP representatives from crossing over to the other side of the aisle in a vote.
She doesn’t expect this to happen in the Senate.
Sen. Margarita Prentice (D-Renton) sponsored the companion version of 1382 in the Senate. She was off the Transportation Committee for the last seven years, but jumped back in the fray to help get this bill done.
Prentice said the concept of tolling the lanes to pay for highway improvements is a valid and previously used one that should be practiced throughout the state. It allows those who really need the extra minutes, to buy them.
“Those of us who feel we can afford to pay a little more do,” she said.
HOT lane proposals on I-405 have received consistent criticism from a group of former legislators. Members of the Eastside Transportation Association have said the concept will create a tiered system that costs too much for the average single driver to buy into, leading to overly congested general purpose lanes, and open, if not empty HOT lanes.
A similar bill failed to get out of the Senate last year because of confusion over how the concept would operate. Legislators spent the next year scrutinizing the plan, and an expert review panel approved the concept in November.
Prentice isn’t worried about the bill failing to get out of the Senate.
“There are plenty of us who believe strongly in (the bill),” she said. “I think we can make a pretty good case for it.”
Clibborn echoed Prentice’s sentiment, having heard from her colleagues in the Senate that this year’s bill has significantly more support than last year.
“I don’t know what happens when it comes to the floor, but I imagine that it will have some support, more support from last year, and be more bi-partisan,” she said.
The bill contains a hefty financial study to determine how a second phase, south from Bellevue, connecting to State Route 167, can be undertaken.
Prentice acknowledged the shortfall in paying for State Route 167 through it’s use of HOT lanes. But, she said, the area for that is too short to compare to I-405.
SR-520 bill sails through Senate
Senate Bill 5700, which would install tolling equipment on the State Route 520 bridge to pay for a replacement crossing, passed 73-25. Washington State Department of Transportation represents have said they want to begin tolling by April, and this vote should make that deadline a reality.
Tolling is expected to pay for at least $1 billion of the $4.6 billion project. The project is still nearly $2 billion short of having the needed financing.
Tolls on the bridge would vary by time of day with the most expensive rates ($3.50 each way), coming during commuting hours of 7-9 a.m. and 3-6 p.m.
