” It comes down to trust…and that’s in short supply.”

April 28th, 2008
Wide use of tolls could unclog roads, Seattle study says 4/24/08 By Eric Pryne The Seattle Times Copyright 2008 Widespread tolls could make chronic traffic congestion in Seattle and other cities "a thing of the past," a pioneering study says. Tolls could cut the average late-afternoon commute time from downtown Seattle to Tacoma by perhaps 40 percent. A typical rush-hour drive from Bellevue to Lynnwood could be trimmed by more than one-third, the Puget Sound Regional Council's "Traffic Choic

Steady Progress On Congestion Pricing, Tolling

April 28th, 2008
Suppose electricity was free, even at hours of peak usage. Think your power supply would be reliable, then? Exactly. Now apply the same common-sense approach to highway capacity. Or consider the Environmental Defense Fund's Transportation Director Michael Replogle, who writes in the Washington Post:
Congestion pricing may be controversial to some people, but it's inevitable. Using tolls simply to build more roads is a costly way to end up with even more traffic and pollution....Done right, congestion pricing can boost the efficiency of our existing roads, raise revenue to invest in transit, and reduce pollution that causes ...

A study says the case for road tolling is ‘compelling’

April 25th, 2008
The Seattle Times has an overview of the long-awaited results of the federally funded, multi-million "Traffic Choices" study conducted by the Puget Sound Region Council (PSRC) to look at the viability of widespread road tolling throughout Greater Seattle. The PSRC describes the research as "the most comprehensive study of demand response to network tolling in existence." A summary of the study can be found here (pdf).

Congestion pricing: Even New York’s got a problem with that

April 8th, 2008
The failure of an ambitious tolling plan there holds lessons for metro Puget Sound.

HOT lanes driven by pay?

April 4th, 2008
Mary Peters, U.S. secretary of transportation, was in the Seattle-area Friday.

More evidence that Washington infrastructure collapse is over-hyped

April 1st, 2008
Okay, classify this as a pet peeve, but it bugs me when politicians, including Christine Gregoire, wave the bloody shirt of the Minnesota bridge collapse as an all-purpose rationale to boost infrastructure spending. Gregoire has done this often. She raised the specter of the Minnesota disaster as an argument in favor of Proposition 1 last fall; she raised it again to argue for a new toll bridge across the Columbia River, and yet again at a national governor's meeting in February. I have no quarrel with repairing or inspecting roads and bridges--please, let's do that. But the ...

Washington Legislature Advances Tolling For Puget Sound

March 18th, 2008
In its election year "short session" concluded last week, the Washington state legislature took several important, albeit partial steps to advance tolling, commuter rail, passenger-only ferries and innovative transportation funding partnerships with non-government entities. Let's review some key '08 transportation bills that made it through both legislative chambers, and now await the signature of Gov. Christine Gregoire. ESHB 3096 (bill as passed - bill report - legislative history) has to do with the State Route 520 floating bridge connecting Seattle across Lake Washington to fast-growing Eastside business and residential centers such as Bellevue, Kirkland and Redmond. ...

Traffic's so bad, we might actually be willing to pay a toll - Crosscut

March 4th, 2008
Traffic's so bad, we might actually be willing to pay a toll Crosscut, WA - Mar 4, 2008 WSDOT was viewed favorably by 52 percent, Sound Transit by 55 percent, and the Regional Transportation Improvement District (RTID) by only 23 percent (with ...

House OKs 520 toll study

February 29th, 2008
OLYMPIA -- The Legislature moved another step closer Friday to imposing tolls for a new state Route 520 bridge, with the House approving a study group to help determine how the state would collect the tolls.

Whiff of cynicism lingers over Washington State’s call for road tolls to flight global warming

February 29th, 2008
Buried in the Seattle Times story about the road-toll initiative, however, is the most-likely explanation as to why legislators are backing it: The Washington State government needs a new source of money to compensate for falling revenues due to more fuel-efficient cars. Apparently the growth of state gas-tax revenue is slowing and, as vehicles become more fuel-efficient, officials are afraid tax collections won't keep up with their spending projections. So instead of allowing people to reap
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