Free weekend trips and lane expansions planned for I-405

SEATTLE — Free weekend trips, better customer service and more room to drive could be coming to the controversial express toll lanes on Interstate 405.

On Tuesday, Gov. Jay Inslee discussed several changes on the corridor, including new striping, a tweaking of the algorithms that set tolls, and a couple of expansion projects that would need funding from the Legislature.

One is a new northbound auxiliary lane between State Route 520 and Northeast 70th Place.

Early estimates put the cost between $5 million and $30 million.

The Washington State Department of Transportation is also considering an expansion of I-405 between State Route 527 and I-5 to allow northbound shoulder driving.

That work could cost between $30 million and $50 million.

WSDOT says both projects would need environmental reviews, and the costs could vary based on environmental needs, such as preserving fish passage.

The auxiliary lane could open one to three years after funding is approved.

The expanded shoulder could open two years after funding is approved, and might need walls to limit road noise.

Inslee said removing tolls on evenings, weekends and holidays could happen as early as this spring, a step that needs the approval of the Washington State Transportation Commission, which sets tolls.

Inslee is also directing WSDOT to add customer service capacity and redesign the tolling website.

"We want to have everyone, to the extent humanly possible, have a positive experience," Inslee said of the toll lanes. "That is not the case today, so we've got to continue on this route of making improvements."

Republican gubernatorial challenger Bill Bryant described Inslee's measures as "all frosting and no cake."

Bryant wants WSDOT to reduce the toll lanes to one lane, and lower the carpool requirement to two people in the remaining lane.

"A governor needs to help traffic move. And making these simple changes would help traffic move," Bryant said.

WSDOT officials say the department looked at that idea and concluded it would make the northbound bottleneck worse, where five lanes are reduced to three.

"They have concluded it would increase congestion rather than decrease it and our goal is to decrease congestion over time," Inslee said.

Legislative proposals to reduce the toll lanes from two lanes to one did not pass either the House Transportation Committee, which is controlled by Democrats, or the Senate Transportation Committee, which is controlled by Republicans.

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Cox Media Group