Placing a toll on I-90 not only could make US 2 busier, but will make it busier, as people will endure the longer drive to get to US 2 to avoid the toll. The major problem with that is that US 2 is a two-lane, unlimited access highway, as opposed to the multi-laned, limited access freeway I-90 is. US 2 is notorious in these parts for being a dangerous stretch of road, with many head-on collisions happening quite often. Also, it's in pretty rough shape, making any drive rather arduous, at best.
"Some see this as an opportunity to fix U.S. 2."
"That could happen if U.S. 2 also becomes a toll road, Sultan Police Chief Fred Walser said."
""It makes perfect sense," Walser said."
At first glance, I thought the "opportunity to fix US 2" was from using funds generated from the proposed toll on I-90. Silly me. No, Sultan Police Chief Walser wants to place a use toll on US 2, as well. How absurd! But wait! There's more!
"He envisions doubling the size of the highway to four lanes, keeping one lane in each direction as toll-free local access lanes." That's nice, Chief, but how would you go about differentiating between the locals using US 2, and those who aren't local? And how would you enforce the "local only lanes" provision? Do you really think that the non-local users of US 2 aren't going to try to use the "local only" lanes"? If so, I have some ocean front property in Arizona you might be interested in.
"Toll revenue could be spent on reducing U.S. 2's fatal accident rate - 40 fatalities since 1999 - while easing congestion." Except of course, during construction of the new lanes, a fact that they conveniently fail to mention. Oh, and let's not forget construction of the toll booths, too. US 2 is notoriously congested now. What's it going to be like during construction? While reducing the fatality rate is a noble objective, easing congestion - for a long time, if ever - won't happen. Somebody refresh my memory, please - how many years does it take to build one mile of highway?
"Slapping a toll only on I-90 would only "create more delays and more congestion" on U.S. 2, Walser said." Gee, Chief. Thanks ever so much for a blinding glimpse of the obvious!
"The state is in the early stages of deciding whether tolls have a future here, said Reema Griffith, state Transportation Commission administrator. Proposing a toll on I-90 is a way to get the public conversation started, she said." Now there's an understatement! And just who is going to be conducting this "conversation", anyway? Is it only going to be the State DOT? The Legislature and the State DOT? Or are any of you people going to let the citizens of the state have a say in this matter? Knowing the arrogance of the State DOT (only DSHS is more arrogant), they'll want to keep all the "conversations" in-house, and not allow anyone else to have a say.
"A $4-per-trip toll would raise more than $39 million per year, based on the average of 27,000 vehicles that go through Snoqualmie Pass every day." Those 27,000 vehicles that are traveling I-90 are doing it on a roadway that has no tolls at the present moment, yet the State DOT thinks that when the toll booths go up, the same number of vehicles will still be traveling I-90? Not only is that presumptuous arrogance on their part, but it is pure folly to base a revenue projection on that assumption, because many people will quit using I-90 to go to US 2 to avoid the tolls!
"Drivers on fast-moving I-90 are unlikely to switch to U.S. 2, with its traffic signals, small towns and lack of passing lanes, said Dongho Chang, the state Department of Transportation's traffic engineer for Snohomish County."
"There is a detour. Drivers could choose to avoid the proposed toll by traveling U.S. 97 from Ellensburg and connecting to U.S. 2."
"But that adds 50 miles to the drive - about two gallons of gas and an hour or so of time, Chang said." Perhaps, but I think Mr. Chang is indulging in wishful thinking here. There are so many people that are getting entirely too fed up with how money hungry this state has become, that they will go out of their way to avoid the toll, as a simple form of protest. It hasn't been all that long, really, since I-90 was itself a two-lane highway, and there are plenty of people around who remember that, and wouldn't mind one whit using US 2 and other routes, if it meant not having to give the state even more money than they get already.
"A Snoqualmie Pass toll would have to cost a lot more than $4 to get long-haul truckers to take that kind of detour, said Ed Vander Pol, co-owner of Auburn-based Oak Harbor Freight Lines."
"He predicted that all trucking companies would oppose the fee, but would pay it if the state decides to start charging."
""If they're using Highway 2 now, they'll keep using it," Vander Pol said. "If they're using I-90, they'll use I-90. They won't change for four bucks." Well, that depends on who is paying the toll, don't you think? If the trucking companies foot the bill, then no the truckers won't change what route they're using. But, if it's the truckers who have to pay, it might be a very different story.
If the truckers start using different routes to get across the mountains, such as say, through Portland, OR., this state's economy will suffer drastically. The east side of the state is where the majority of our state's agro-business is, and to get crops to market - especially overseas markets - those crops have to get trucked west over the mountains, to the ports at Seattle and Tacoma, and to a lesser (but no less significant) degree, Everett. If truckers begin using Portland instead, what happens to the shipping industry here? It could very well collapse, which would be a major economic disaster for the entire state.
The State DOT, in greedily going after pennies (400 of 'em), could potentially be throwing away billions of dollars in an ill-conceived "plan", that could be disastrous for the state.
This is a looming economic fiasco that needs to be shelved.
Hat Tip: Denali-Kat
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