Widespread use of toll roads could cut traffic congestion, according to an eight-month study of drivers in the Seattle area.
Tolls, especially at peak times, are key to funding new projects and making transit economically viable. But don't expect them soon. The head of the state Transportation Commission told the Seattle Times that the area has too little experience with tolls and the public won't accept them. "The politics of that is just too tough," said Richard Ford, commission chairman.
In the study, drivers' dashboards were fitted with electronic devices that tracked their travel, and they were charged virtual tolls ranging from five to 50 cents a mile, according to the paper. Charges were deducted from accounts of between $600 and $3,000 set up for each driver and participants could keep whatever money was left at the end of the experiment. About 80 percent of participants drove less or changed routes and travel times to avoid the highest tolls.
But incoming state Sen. Ed Murray of Seattle, who chairs the House Transportation Committee, said there is already widespread opposition to tolls, even to fund projects like replacing a floating bridge. "This isn't Amsterdam -- this is the West," he said. "One of the things we have to understand is whether the culture for this (tolls) exists here," he added. "It doesn't now. It don't think that's going to be easy to overcome."