WSDOT outlines concerns as tolling for Seattle tunnel approaches (Sammamish: home, construction)

[homesinseattle]

We’re under two weeks away from the start of Seattle tunnel tolling. What has traffic managers and planners concerned as we inch toward tolling on November 9? Will people alter their schedules? Will they choose transit? Will they jump off 99 just before the tunnel? Will they bail from 99 earlier than that?

The one thing we can say for sure is that tolling will fundamentally change our traffic patterns. Jennifer Charlebois with the Washington Department of Transportation said about a third of drivers using the tunnel today could go somewhere else. “We do expect there to be a drop in volumes,” she said. “Some of our predictions show around 35 percent or so.”

Heather Marx is Seattle’s director of downtown mobility, and she will be watching the surface streets carefully. “We’re going to see more cars on Alaskan Way and on 1st Avenue,” she said. “More vehicles on the SR 99 exits and the alternative routes to SR 99.” Seattle traffic engineers are ready to tweak signal timing and call out police to help direct traffic if necessary. Link here: https://mynorthwest.com/1573279/seat...unnel-tolling/

[Hemlock140]

My daily commute is from I90 onto Alaskan Way to the office in Belltown, so I don't use the tunnel. Since tourist season and the viaduct removal have both ended the afternoon has been a breeze. I'm home in Sammamish in 45 minutes, sometimes this summer it took 90 minutes. That's leaving work by 2pm. Hopefully I'm still ahead of the bulk of commuters that use the tunnel now and stop. Tunnel toll or not won't affect me in the morning, at 5am there just isn't any traffic to deal with.


For those that go to SLU, I would expect the predicted big drop in tunnel traffic, but then some increase back up as people discover that the toll is worth the time it saves over Alaskan Way or 1st Avenue after about 6:30am. Besides the number of cars and buses, there is the continued construction for the waterfront development and the nasty potholes on Alaskan Way that are not going away any time soon.

[41Willys]

I take 90 to Seattle. Why are they tolling 99 and not the tunnels on rt90 to Mercer Island and again when entering The Portal to the Pacific? Doesn't make much sense. If your gonna do it, do it fairly.