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Poll: 53 Percent of Drivers Will Switch to I-90 to Avoid 520 Tolls

News   January 27, 2011 at 10:59 am Erica C. Barnett

A new KING-5 poll  confirms what tolling advocates have been saying for years: Tolling the new SR-520 bridge won’t work in the absence of tolls on I-90, the other route between Seattle and the Eastside.

According to the poll, 75 percent of drivers said they’d seek alternate routes once the state implements tolls on the bridge. Of those, 71 percent said they’d switch to I-90 and 19 percent said they’d drive around the north end of Lake Washington. That’s 53.25 percent of all drivers who currently use the 520 bridge.

Additionally, 54 percent of those polled said they’d avoid 520 altogether, and 25 percent said they’d reduce their use of the bridge.

The prospect of tolling I-90 at the same time as 520 has been controversial. Tolling both bridges would help the state pay off a new 520 bridge faster, but the state currently has no plans to toll I-90 before 2016. Tim Eyman has filed an initiative this year that would require toll revenues from I-90 to be used for capital improvements to I-90 bridge itself.

In positive news for transit advocates, 18 percent said they’d be more likely to use transit, and 17 percent said they’d be more likely to carpool.


  • Anonymous

    This sounds great to me, and exactly what should happen. When I need to be quick, 520 will now be faster because of fewer cars, but it will cost me a few bucks. This will also allow transit (MS Connector bus, not Sound Transit) to be faster on most of the days where I take transit, which is double-awesome.

  • Roues-71315

    This will be very interesting. If it indeed reduces — or even eliminates — traffic congestion on the 520 bridge, then we may have found a very effective way of reducing traffic congestion on other (perhaps all) congested highways.

    What I expect will actually happen is that a lot of drivers will swith to I-90 at first, which will make that bridge a parking lot during peak hours. Then, to avoid the major congestion on the I-90 bridge, some of those drivers will switch back to 520 and pay the toll. You may even see some people who currently use I-90 switching to 520 and paying the toll to avoid the congestion on I-90.

    I think everyone should wait several months after tolls go into effect before making a judgement on how the 520 toll works.

  • http://www.twitter.com/joeszi Joe Szilagyi

    Isn’t that exactly how most tolled routes are meant to work, from the volume standpoint?

  • Jakers

    75% would switch the first day to alternative routes and then after spending more than two hours to get to work or get home, they would promptly see the value in paying a toll to actually go the speed limit across a less-congested 520 bridge.

  • Anonymous

    I imagine that in practice far fewer actually would. Its much easier to tell a pollster something, especially if say you are against tolling, then to actually follow through.

    Not that tolling I-90 is a bad idea…

  • ivan

    Erica, as usual, draws a bullshit conclusion from the data she gets. Tolling 520 will work just fine in the absence of tolls on I-90. It means only that 520 won’t get paid off as quickly.

    And if not, then so what? I-90 is paid for already, and exactly as Jakers says, if people decide that they’d rather pay a toll than take extra time, they’ll take 520. Chances are it will be less congested as a result of cheapskates like me using I-90, which will provide an incentive to use 520 for those who can afford the toll or don’t mind paying it.

    So for Erica to say this “won’t work” is just more of her usual whiny war on cars bullshit, easily dismissed.

  • Jakers

    How many I-90 drivers that can afford the toll will switch to a less congested tolled 520?

  • ivan

    Geez, Jakers, I don’t know. And neither does anybody else.

    But I do know Disqus sucks.

  • Ty

    I like how people in the poll assume they could drive around 520 and only add 10 minutes to their commute. Good luck.

  • Long-time Seattleite

    Ummm, exactly WHY are we being forced to pay a toll to drive over a decrepit old bridge that’s already paid for? We’re paying a current toll to provide future benefits, to allow lower tolls for future motorists, the ones who will actually benefit from the new bridge.

    Unprecedented. And totally sucks.

  • Anonymous

    A similar poll was taken before the new Tacoma Narrow Bridge opened (with tolls) a few years ago with a similar number of drivers claiming that they would cross the Narrows less often, or even drive around via Belfair/Shelton/Olympia, to avoid paying tolls.

    What happened?

    Once the new bridge opened they hysteria died down, people held their noses, and paid the toll to use the new bridge.

    What people SAY they will do and what they actually end up doing are entirely different – especially with regards to something like this.

    This poll is meaningless.

  • Pine Grove

    Long-time Seattleite here must be one of these gullible types who sincerely believe that putting zero down on a house is a good deal.

    And I love the language about being “forced” to pay a toll. Yes, we live in a representative democracy and a civilized society rather than an anarchic Mad Max world, and for this we are “forced” all the time to do things we might not otherwise choose to do.

  • Anonymous

    Also all the more reason to have HOV lanes along all of SR-522 around the north end. Gee, I wish there were some sort of state highway money available.

  • Biliruben

    Or drop a train, at-grade, right down the middle of the sucker.