A lot of people are continuing to go out of their way to avoid paying the new Highway 520 bridge tolls.
Only 44,300 vehicles took 520 across Lake Washington on Thursday – the first day of the new electronic toll program – compared with 85,000 trips for a typical Dec. 29, and 112,000 trips for a normal commuting day. The Seattle Times reports that’s a 60 percent drop.
Officials said Friday morning that traffic looked even lighter . The total may trend down to 40,000 trips. Officials are still confident that toll revenue will help pay for a replacement bridge to connect Seattle and cites east of Lake Washington.
Craig Stone, state tolling director, said the opening-week trends are about as expected. In one forecast, as many as 45 percent of 520 bridge users would either detour, switch to transit or van pools, or stay home in the opening year, before traffic rebounds. State officials say tolls will still support a proposed $1 billion in bond sales to help fund a $4.65 billion replacement highway.
Rates go from $1.10 late at night to $3.50 at peak times, each direction, for drivers with a Good to Go sticker.
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