Top lawmakers won’t move bills to end tolling on I-405

OLYMPIA) – Top state lawmakers say they won’t move any bills this session to end tolling on the express lanes of Interstate 405 between Bellevue and Lynnwood.

The Daily Herald reported that leaders of the state House and Senate transportation committees appear ready to keep the toll lanes operating, at least for now.

Sen. Curtis King, who heads the Senate transportation committee, says the state should wait to see the results of the two-year tolling pilot project, which ends in September.

Rep. Judy Clibborn, who heads the House transportation committee, is considering making the toll lanes permanent in 2018.

The toll lanes have been generating higher than estimated receipts. But daily commute times through that corridor hasn’t flowed as fast as it should during parts of last year.