"Eez good for zee Collecteeve"

Courtesy of the King County Liberty Campaign, we learn that the State Department of transportation is considering turning one or two lanes of Interstate 405 into "Express Toll Lanes." They have a poll on the subject here.

Now, it has come to my attention that the method of dealing with high-volume, ,long distance traffic on local highways varies from place to place. Back in the 'hood (Detroit, for anyone who came in late) when they were expending the local Interstate system back in the '70s, they built a parallel set of "express lanes" which had their own exits and entrances, at greater distances between them. That is, there might be four lanes west-bound, then two lanes west-bound of express lanes, separated by jersey barriers, then more jersey barriers, then two lanes east bound express lanes, jersey barriers, four lanes east-bound. The express lanes' on and off ramps might be at five or six mile intervals instead of one or two.

Here, what you have depends on where you are; Interstate 5^a through Seattle has a set of "variable (or reversible) express lanes", which change direction depending on time of day. The rule seems to be, whichever direction Drang is traveling, is wrong. On this traffic map, you see what seem to be three roadways on I5 through Seattle, the middle one is the express lanes.

Between Seattle and Tacoma, we have "High Occupancy Vehicle" lanes, intended to reward people for carpooling; you get to use the (usually less congested, somewhat faster) inside lane for travel if you have more than one person in the car^b,c. These lanes exist on I5, I405, and State Route 167.

A few years back, they started experimenting with opening the HOV lanes to general traffic on SR167 after the evening commute was over; IIRC, between 7 in the evening and 5 in the morning, a "single-occupancy vehicle" was legal. I knew midnight-shift folks who were elated when that opened up.

And, last year on SR167, they started playing with their "auto-toll" system. You get a pass with an electronic transponder in it, and can use the HOV lane--now designated an HOT lane, the "T" stands for "Toll"--but only if you enter, or exit, at designated points along the highway. You have to use these designated points, because that makes it easier for them to have the transponder readers and cameras. The cameras are to ensure that anyone without a transponder has two more more people in the car, and take a picture of the license plate for revenue generation ticketing purposes if they don't. You also generate revenue get fined if you enter or exit the HOT Lane anywhere other than the designated point, or use the HOT lane with too few people in the car without what they call a "Good To Go!" pass.

The tolls vary by section of road, time of day, and how heavy traffic is. They almost literally nickel and dime you: If we update that saying for inflation, it becomes literally true in this case, in that they quarter and half-dollar you. The tolls are fifty or seventy-five cents^d for every two-mile section of HOT traveled.

UPDATE: Discussing the issue with a co-worker, I learn that during rush hour the tolls run as high as $1.50 a two-mile section, maybe higher.

This is part of the reason I will not participate in this scheme: If they charged me $20 a month, or $100 a year, I might buy one of their passes, but I have to agree to a direct deduction from my bank account to the State of Washington Department of Transportation of a variable amount, which will be impractical, if not impossible, to keep track of, since I will be driving at the time.

Which is nearly as bad as the study that Oregon wants to do, in which they will install GPS units in cars to keep track of miles traveled, so that they can tax you directly for road usage.^e

Now, I have further thoughts on transit, commuting, and how it ties in to freedom vs. collectivization, which I will post later, but this all reminds me of Tamara's post about "Freedom Machines", which pointed me at PDB's post about "Cash for Clunkers", which, of course, reminded me of my own post “Eez Social-eezm”...



a)Locally called "I5"; anyone you calling it "the 5" is immediately marked as a Californian, bewildered at the sudden ostracism...
b) The HOV lanes are marked out with a wide solid line; when my parents were out here visiting a few years ago my father thought I had violated traffic rules by crossing the line to enter the HOV Lane. That was when I realized that the ways of handling these things varied so much from state to state.
c) Originally, the plan was to require three or more people in a vehicle. Amazing how few people travel with two or more companions...
d) I assume that, if traffic is heavy enough, they will charge more--the "concept illustration" on the WSDOT page I linked to above shows the reader board charging tolls of $2.00 and $4.00.
e) I typed "oregon gps" into Google Search and it auto-completed "mileage tax".