By Nicholas Mirra

A cheeky use of a drawspan opening during the bridge's grand opening in 1963.

If you drive across Lake Washington’s Evergreen Point Floating Bridge with any regularity, you’ve likely been caught at some point in a drawspan opening that halted your vehicle for up to 30 minutes. During these traffic stops, drivers have had the chance to admire the Cascades (when visible), ponder nearby bumper stickers and, of course, check out @wsdot_traffic for more information.

Most of these backups have been caused by a required opening of the floating bridge’s center drawspan to let boats pass through. Since construction on the new floating bridge began in spring 2012 and blocked the old bridge’s east navigation channel, the drawspan has opened for marine traffic more than 600 times. We know this has been difficult for drivers on the bridge. And we have worked hard to keep them informed, including creation of a text service that sends advance notice of drawspan openings to more than 9,200 subscribed drivers.

Those alerts, however, soon will be moot. Drivers – good news is at hand. Starting Tuesday, Feb. 17, the floating bridge’s drawspan will open for boats nevermore.

The new floating bridge, at left, nears the drawspan of the existing bridge, at lower right. On Feb. 17, added pontoons will prevent boats from passing through an opened drawspan. (Photo credit: HDR)

Why? The new floating bridge we’re building lies just north of the old bridge. The new structure is steadily growing from east to west as crews join together its supporting pontoons. On Feb. 17, newly joined and anchored pontoons will completely obstruct the drawspan. (See a diagram of the closure on the SR 520 website.) From that day forward, the north-south channel through the middle of the bridge will be blocked.

For drivers and transit riders, those midday minutes of motionless, midlake tranquility will be a thing of the past.Local mariners will still be able to get past the floating bridges (both old and new) by passing through a reopened east navigation channel or the marine channel on the west side of the lake. For more information on the navigation channels, visit our drawspan information Web page.

By Ian Sterling

It takes people – a whole lot of them. As Labor Day approaches, we at WSDOT tip our hardhats to the men and women building and maintaining our state’s transportation system, with a special nod to the more than 1,400 workers involved in one of the largest construction undertakings in state history.

Did you know that the SR 520 Bridge Replacement and HOV Program is actually a series of separate projects being built at several sites around the state? These locations include:

• the new floating bridge across Lake Washington;
• pontoon construction in Aberdeen and Tacoma;
• new roadway and transit stops on the east side of Lake Washington; and
• precast concrete construction work in Kenmore.

Brandy Cunningham, a traffic control supervisor

Making it all happen are workers like Brandy Cunningham, a traffic control supervisor and member of Laborers’ Local 440. The mother of two has spent most of her weekends and many an early morning this summer directing drivers around roadwork on the Eastside Transit and HOV Project. Cunningham says it’s cool to be working on something that thousands of people use every day. She tells us she has a  sense of pride anytime she drives by the project because she has a role in it. One of her favorite parts of the job is when drivers give her team a wave. She says the crew gets to know the faces of a lot of people driving by and enjoys it when they get a smile or a wave. Keeping drivers safe and moving through the construction is a critical role.

Tyler Rabey is a member of Carpenters Local 317. Aberdeen-born-and-raised, he completed a two-year carpentry program at Grays Harbor College and now helps build the massive pontoons that make up the backbone of the new floating bridge. He says it’s incredible how they’re built and it’s amazing to be part of their construction. He also notes that the job has allowed him to buy a house and a nice car before most of his friends of the same age. His training and work on the pontoons have launched his career.

Operator trainee Pernell Vuepa

Operator trainee Pernell Vuepa starts his day at 3:30 a.m., making the commute from his home in Auburn to work on the Eastside Transit and HOV Project. The heavy-equipment operator has a job that any child with a Tonka truck would envy. He says kids come to watch as he operates a giant loader. He tells us little kids like to see big things – like concrete forms, piles of dirt and other objects he spends his days moving into place. According to Pernell, the best part of his job is getting to do something different every day. He’s a proud member of the Operating Engineers Local 612.

One of the most unique jobs anywhere has to belong to Daniel Nielsen, a fourth-generation pile driver with Local 196. He’s in charge of bolting together the football-field-size longitudinal pontoons on Lake Washington—a key to the Floating Bridge and Landings Project. He notes the bolts used are up to 20 feet long and weigh roughly 400 pounds each. To reach the latest pair of pontoons being joined, he walks on the ones already connected. Every time two more pontoons are bolted together, his on-foot commute along the pontoons increases. He tells us it currently takes about 15-minutes to make the walk.

Daniel Nielsen, a fourth-generation pile driver

These are just a few of the many faces making the new SR 520 bridge and corridor a reality. From scuba divers in the waters of Grays Harbor to crane operators perched high above Lake Washington, well over one thousand individuals are laboring every day to rebuild this vital corridor. Other SR 520 construction workers we talked to for this story included Randy Janson, a concrete foreman in Aberdeen and member of Cement Masons Local 528; Mark Folk, a former jeweler now doing carpentry work on the new floating bridge’s east approach; and Sergio Carlos, a member of the United Brotherhood of Carpenters who’s building concrete forms on the highway’s Eastside corridor.

On this Labor Day, we say, “Thanks, we can’t do it without you,” and salute them all for a job well done.

By Mike Allende

By now, hopefully you’ve heard that westbound Interstate 90 will be reduced to one lane at Bellevue Way Southeast from 9:30 p.m. Friday, July 18 until 5 a.m. Friday, July 25. That’s 24-hours-a-day for a week, and yes, it’s going to be messy.

During that time, contractor crews are going to be replacing two huge, old expansion joints embedded deep in the roadway near Mercer Island. They’re 33-years-old and despite repairs over the years, they are at the end of their useful life.

We don’t make decisions to do these kind of closures lightly, and a lot of thought and discussion went into it. There’s never a good time to close lanes on major highways. In the end, doing a few weekend closures like we did for our I-5 expansion joint replacement just wouldn’t work this time.

Construction details
These expansion joints are massive, much bigger than those on I-5. Each of the 33-year-old joints are 92-feet long and weigh almost 29 tons. They’re embedded into 11-inch-thick concrete. Chipping out the concrete, replacing the joints, pouring new concrete and letting that concrete cure for a minimum of 12 hours would take longer than a typical weekend-long closure allows. Once in place, between 24 – 30 hours of welding is needed to connect both sides of the new joints.

Keeping traffic moving
No two-ways about this, we’re going to need your help. Knowing what to expect and staying informed is something everyone can do. For an idea of what this closure will look like, we put together this animation showing what is closed and how cars will move through the closure.

As the animation shows, besides the three lanes of I-90, we’ll also have some ramp closures. Take a look and get an idea of how to move through the closure if you end up having to go that way.

Stage 1

Stage 2

If you don’t plan ahead, your typical commute could last an hour or more. The best advice is to avoid using westbound I-90 during the closure. With a big Sounders match and the Mariners in town, along with work and other trips, we know that’s not easy. Taking an alternate route will help, but still add extra time to your trip because other routes will be affected with folks doing the same thing. If you can telework, or even take a vacation, this would be the week to do it.

When we had two lanes closed on westbound I-90 floating bridge in July 2009, we saw up to 7-mile backups, but we had the express lanes to help. On this closure we do not. Congestion could be much worse this time around.

To keep delays from really getting horrible, we need at least 60 percent of drivers to adjust their plans. We recognize that’s a lot to ask, but every person who can change their plans helps.

The graph below shows that normal peak travel times on westbound I-90 in the closure area are up to 15 minutes in the morning, up to 30 in the afternoon. If we get a 60 percent diversion during the closure, we still expect morning travel times to be 45 minutes to 1 hour, and a little longer in the afternoon. So if there's any way for to you avoid the area that week, do it.


We wouldn’t do this closure if we didn’t have to but it’s vital to maintaining our infrastructure and avoiding emergency closures that would lead to having to replace the expansion joints anyway.

Tolls on SR 520
Folks have asked us about tolls on SR 520 during construction on I-90. SR 520 is just one route from the Eastside to Seattle. The Transportation Commission sets toll rates and exemptions and there are none for this project or other construction closures. Drivers can set up a short-term account and can save $.50 on the pay-by-mail toll rate.

Aging infrastructure
This is a safety and mobility issue. We’ve had several temporary fixes over the years, and these expansion joints simply need to be replaced before they break.  If we do nothing, this could happen during a busy commute and tie up traffic for a long time. Vehicles could be damaged and lanes of traffic closed for an indefinite amount of time. As you can imagine, you can’t just go to the store to buy a replacement expansion joint. These are custom made for the bridge, and it takes between six to nine months to fabricate.

New expansion joints to be installed

It’s not going to be easy, but hopefully with some planning and adjustments, many of you may be able to avoid the congestion that inevitably happens with a major closure like this. With many of our roads being 30 to 60 years old, this is a step we need to take to ensure they can meet the demands of day to day traffic.

Learn more about the I-90 closure on the project website.

By Roger Thompson

We’re gearing up for the fourth weekend full closure of the SR 520 bridge this month. Wait. What? Another closure?

The main reason streets or highways are closed to traffic for construction is so crews can get the work done more quickly, more efficiently, and more safely with fewer disruptions to motorists. Sometimes crews can perform their work by closing just part of a road. Other times, it’s necessary to shut down a highway entirely – again, to get the work done more quickly, efficiently, and safely.

In other words, get in and get out!

Another reason is to take advantage of the longer daylight and good weather we often have in Western Washington during the summer. It’s great for backyard barbecues – but it’s also great for getting a lot of outdoor construction done. Especially when it involves pouring concrete or placing asphalt. And there’s a whole lot of that going on with the SR 520 Bridge Replacement and HOV Program.

During June’s four weekend closures of SR 520, crews are pouring some 2,000 cubic yards of concrete to build the roadway deck for the new West Connection Bridge on Lake Washington (it will connect the new floating bridge with the highway’s existing lanes in Seattle). Other crews, working around the clock during the four closures, are placing asphalt for the new, six-lane highway being built on SR 520 between Evergreen Point Road and I-405.

Crews use a closed SR 520 highway and a barge as work platforms to pump concrete for the roadway deck of SR 520’s new West Connection Bridge.

Another reason for having four weekend highway closures in a five-week span is the pressing nature of the SR 520 construction schedule. Urgency is driving our weekend closures for the highway’s  Eastside Transit and HOV Project. Our contractor crews are in the home stretch of completing the Eastside’s improvements, including new transit stops in the highway’s median, lidded overpasses, roundabout interchanges, direct-access ramps for buses and carpools, and a dedicated transit/carpool lane in both directions. All this work is critical to opening the improved Eastside segment of SR 520 later this summer.

A paving crew places asphalt on the highway’s new six-lane Eastside corridor.

Crews also are working to complete the West Connection Bridge in a couple of months so that other crews can move forward with the next phase of building the new floating bridge: anchoring into position and joining together the bridge’s massive concrete pontoons, building the roadway deck, then, in early 2016, connecting it to the fixed-bridge structures on either side of Lake Washington and opening the new road to traffic.

Did we need to schedule four full-weekend closures in such a short time frame? Unfortunately, yes. The fact is there is never a good time to shut down a highway. But summer, as noted earlier, is when certain highway work can best be done. With so many community festivals, sporting events and other popular weekend happenings in the greater Seattle area, the number of “available” weekends for highway closures gets whittled down pretty fast.

More SR 520 closures will be needed this summer as we proceed with all this construction. Check our SR 520 Highway Closures page for the latest in closure information.

By Laura Johnson

Toll rates on the SR 520 and Tacoma Narrows bridges are going up July 1. When rates increase, often people ask, so where does all my toll money go?

Well, the majority of each dollar goes goes toward paying for construction of the new bridges in the corridor you’re traveling. For example, on the Tacoma Narrows Bridge, 71 cents out of every toll dollar goes to repaying construction debt. On the SR 520 bridge, it’s 82 cents out of every dollar that goes toward the $1.2 billion in toll money we need to build the new bridge set to open in spring 2016.

So what about the other 29 and 18 cents? Well, it’s split among a lot of different things. We have to pay our vendors that operate the toll collection equipment out on the highway and our customer service centers. There are credit card and bank fees associated with collecting the toll money, and costs to buy the passes we sell you. We also have folks at our Toll Division who make sure the tolling operations keep running smoothly – they get a couple pennies from each dollar.

If you want to see how everything’s broken down, check out these color coded dollar bills, which make it easier to see the percentages in relation to each other.

Where your Tacoma Narrows Bridge toll dollar goes

71 cents of every dollar goes to repaying construction debt.


Where your SR 520 toll dollar goes

The majority of your SR 520 toll dollar goes to paying for a new bridge.


We also looked at how much it costs other toll agencies around the country to collect their tolls. WSDOT’s costs (in green) are about average.


Now that you know where your toll money goes, it’s time for the details about the upcoming rate increases. On July 1, the Tacoma Narrows toll will go up 25 cents across the board for two-axle vehicles, with new rates of $4.50 for Good To Go! customers with a pass, $5.50 for drivers paying at toll booths and $6.50 for Pay By Mail customers. It’ll cost the average weekday commuter about $65 more a year.

Tolls on the SR 520 bridge will go up approximately 2.5 percent on July 1. The peak weekday Good To Go! pass rate will be $3.80 and the peak weekday Pay By Mail rate will be $5.40. The average weekday commuter will pay about $52 more a year.

Again, these rate increases have to happen so that we can pay back the bonds we sold to finance the building of the bridges.

The way it’s set up for the Tacoma Narrows Bridge is that there are escalating debt payments, so the toll rates have to increase to keep up.


For the SR 520 Bridge, the Transportation Commission planned to have four 2.5-percent increases over four years (2012-2015), and then a 15-percent increase in 2016. During the initial rate setting process, they chose the 15-percent increase in 2016 after the new bridge is open to drivers. No rate increases are planned after 2016 for financing purposes; however, the commission will monitor traffic and revenue data to ensure we pay back our bondholders.

By Bart Treece

The name of the game is to keep traffic moving safely. But when there are several construction and maintenance projects that need to get on the road, the job gets complicated.

There really isn’t a “good” time to close part of entire stretches of highway in a large metropolitan area. However, the work needs to get done. Much of it is important for maintaining and preserving our aging infrastructure, like replacing bridge expansion joints (pdf 937 kb) on I-5 or patching the deck of the Ship Canal Bridge. Ignoring these issues would eventually mean unscheduled emergency closures that could impact your regular route to work. We all saw how badly traffic was snarled when a damaged joint needed repairs ASAP last week. This is why we try to schedule these closures when it affects the least amount of people, at night if possible. Some projects need more time, such as when there’s concrete involved which needs time to cure before its strong enough to hold the weight of hundreds of thousands of vehicles. That leaves the weekend, when fewer folks hit the roads.

The white board where closures are initially coordinated with large Seattle events and holidays

Looking at only weekends, we try to avoid four during the summer: Memorial Day, Fourth of July, Seafair and Labor Day weekend. This adds up to a whole month without weekend closures because we know those are big travel times. We’re now left trying to juggle projects on competing corridors, such as SR 520 and I-90 or SR 99, I-5 and I-405. It doesn’t take a traffic engineer to know that closing lanes in the same direction on north/south or east/west routes at the same time would be a very bad thing. Also add into the mix that there are several events including Mariners, Sounders, Husky and Seahawks football game traffic we try to take into consideration. We can’t forget weather, which isn’t always predictable in the ‘Pugetopolis’ region. The threat of liquid sunshine can push a weather-sensitive project back to another weekend.

With projects on every major route planned this summer, there’s not that many weekends left. When possible, we try to combine work to avoid spreading project impacts further along than needed.

By Guest Blogger Emily Pace

Using a blue filtered light allows the toll system to capture the Washington license plate

The new Seahawks and Sounders special design plates are popular with drivers – with 5,800 Seahawks plates purchased since they became available earlier this month. What you may not know is a lot of coordination goes into developing a new license plate design.

Non-profit organizations use special design plates to raise funds for their programs. The Department of Licensing works with these organizations to ensure the proposed plates meet DOL standards. Our job is to make sure the specialty plates work for toll collection.
When preparing to launch tolling on SR 520, we were presented with a unique situation. We couldn’t use bright lights to take photos of the vehicle license plates crossing the bridge because the light would impact drivers, residents and even the aquatic life in Lake Washington.

We worked with DOL to develop test plates using a variety of color combinations.

Instead of using bright lights, our toll system uses black and white cameras with an added blue filtered strobe light to capture good images of the license plates. The blue filtered light allows blue portions of the plate to display as white and nearly every other color on the license plate appears as a shade of gray. This helps decrease the appearance of graphics in the background. For example, the light blue image of Mount Rainier on the Washington plate is basically eliminated, making it easier to read the letters and numbers on the plate.

While the blue filter has many benefits, it also creates challenges with the contrast of colors and background for some specialty plates. In an effort to learn more about the challenges, we worked with DOL to develop test plates using a variety of color combinations. We put the test plates on a car and drove it across the SR 520 bridge. And yes, we paid the toll!

These photos show how changing the color combinations makes the license plates easier to read.

After the test, we found we needed to make adjustments to the background of the new specialty plates to increase contrast. For example, one of the test plates had a blue background with white numbers. The blue filtered light made the blue background appear white, making it difficult to read the white numbers. 

We used what we learned with the test plates when developing the new Seahawks and Sounders plates. With a few minor color changes, we have a final product that works for our agency, DOL, law enforcement and the fans.

The specialty plate guidelines we are developing with DOL will make it simple for organizations to design their specialty plates. The work will ultimately improve customer service by making it easier for the tolling equipment to accurately identify the license plates and ensure tolls are collected.

 By guest blogger Michell Mouton

We’re collecting tolls on SR 520 to generate $1 billion in funding to help fund construction of a new SR 520 bridge – but we still need to close a $1.4 billion funding gap to complete SR 520 improvements between the west side of the bridge and I-5.

For years, planning studies and legislative actions have considered I-90 tolling revenue to help fill that gap. And since SR 520 tolls started, we’ve seen I-90 traffic volumes go up 11 percent or about 15,000 more vehicles a day. So the State Legislature has decided that the time has come to start the discussion again. 

We’re studying the possibility of adding tolls on I-90, between Seattle and Bellevue to help address both of the challenges: balance Cross-Lake Washington traffic and generate revenue to fill the SR 520 construction funding gap.

Deciding whether to toll I-90 involves several steps including an environmental assessment (EA) that’s required as part of the National Environmental Protection Policy Act (NEPA). Basically, NEPA is in place to ensure that we understand, document and if necessary, mitigate the effects of I-90 tolling. That’s why it’s important we hear from you as we start this comment period. We want to learn about any project effects - good or bad - because the EA helps inform decision-making around this project.

How can you get involved?
The 30-day public comment period extends from Jan. 22 to midnight Feb. 22. There are many ways to share your feedback:

Go to a public scoping meeting:  Learn more about the project, talk to project team members and comment in person.
The following meetings take place from 4-7 p.m.:

• Tuesday, Jan. 29 at Mercer Island Community Center, 8236 SE 24th St., Mercer Island.
• Wednesday, Jan. 30 at Bellevue City Hall, 450 11th Ave. NE, Bellevue.
• Thursday, Jan. 31 at Yesler Community Center, 917 E. Yesler Way, Seattle.

Go online: All meeting materials are posted on our web page and you can comment online as well: http://www.wsdot.wa.gov/tolling/i90/onlinescoping.

Send us an email: You can also submit comments by e-mail at I90EAcomments@wsdot.wa.gov or by writing to Ms. Angela Angove at 999 Third Avenue, Suite 2200, Seattle, WA 98104. Mailed comments must be postmarked by Tuesday, Feb. 22, 2013.

What do I comment about? Ask yourself these questions to help get your ideas flowing:

• How will I be affected by tolling on I-90? 
• What should WSDOT consider as they look at the social and environmental influences of tolling I-90?

How much time do I have? Don’t panic if you can’t give us your feedback today or next week. This is a long process.

• The comment period runs until February 22, 2013
• More opportunity for public comment will be available at a public hearing in November where we will share the findings of the environmental assessment. The final environmental document is scheduled to be complete in late 2013.

I continue to be fascinated how transportation affects each and every one of our lives.  Whether it be a trip to the grocery store, a commute to work or a vacation trip across the state, we rely on this system to help us get to our destinations.  I thought it would be worth reflecting on 2012, and hope you enjoy the journey with me.


This was a scene from a wintry January SR 520 weekend closure as we continued work in the area to get ready for a new bridge.  Although tolling on SR 520 officially started in 2011, 2012 saw drivers adjusting their commutes as they help pay for a safer, more reliable bridge.


Early January saw significant snowfall to the mountain passes.  Here we see a familiar scene on I-90 as crews perform avalanche control near the snowshed.


Not often do you see plows out in force on I-5 in Thurston County, but we saw that during storms in early January.


Crews checking out snow depth and conditions on the North Cascades Highway on March 7, 2012.



Snow continued to fall on the passes into March.  Here we see a result of avalanche control on I-90.


SR 99 tunnel prep in Seattle continued throughout 2012.


We take the time each year to remember those workers who lost their lives in work zones.  There were some close calls but fortunately didn't lose anyone in 2012 and we're hoping you Give 'Em a Brake in 2013.


May 30, 2012, saw the grand opening of the West Coast Electric Highway, helping reduce range anxiety for electric vehicle drivers on main corridors in Oregon and Washington.



One of my personal favorites, banding a baby Peregrine Falcon. This chick is nesting in a box under the I-5 Ship Canal Bridge in Seattle. The mother of this chick has been on the bridge since 2002. Follow the entire account of falcon banding on our Storify site.



Anyone else remember that crazy storm we had in July?  This particular cloud dumped several inches of rain on SR 14 and caused quite a mess with multiple mudslides and guardrail damage.



Automating the I-5 express lanes was a big step forward for us in 2012.  Instead of taking an hour to change the lane direction, new equipment was installed that cut the time to 15 minutes. Watch a YouTube video describing these changes.


In August, we got our first glimpse of the world's largest-diameter tunnel boring machine. It was built in Japan and will dig the SR 99 tunnel beneath downtown Seattle starting in summer 2013.

August saw more SR 520 weekend closures as construction continued throughout the year as we demolished overpasses, installed larger culverts and prepped the roadway for a new, wider SR 520.

In August, crews closed SR 167 in both directions for a weekend to add a new 19’ wide new fish friendly culvert.



2012 also saw construction of the first of two new Olympic Class, 144-car ferries.  This one was named Tokitae.




Construction on the North Spokane Corridor freeway reached a significant milestone in 2012 with 5.7 miles of the 10-mile route fully completed and open to traffic.



Sometimes you just can't give enough credit to crews out in the field who work to keep highways open. On a quiet Friday morning in October, 42,000 pounds of fish heads and guts were scattered across US 101 in southern Pacific County.  The semi was off the road within a couple of hours, but it took many more to clean up all the residual. Yuck.

Demolition begins on the old SR 16 eastbound Nalley Valley viaduct in Tacoma to make way for a new, expanded viaduct. Eastbound SR 16 traffic is driving on a temporary bridge until the new viaduct is completed later this year.





An artful shot of crews assembling rebar cages for the new I-5 Salmon Creek interchange, which is in it's final stages of completion.


We are gaining momentum in delivering nearly $800 million in federally funded rail projects with the goal of providing faster, more frequent Amtrak Cascades service between Seattle and Portland. Five of our 20 federally-funded projects were under construction or completed in 2012, with five more set to break ground in 2013. The most recent completed project added two new tracks through BNSF’s busy rail yard near Everett to reduce the conflicts and delays from freight traffic.



While this shot is of Mount Baker highway, which saw hundreds of trees down across the roadway, December saw a 69-hour closure of US 2 from Stevens summit to Leavenworth due to falling trees (first time for that…). It started on Saturday, Dec. 22, and continued through Christmas Day. This unique phenomenon even had prominent meteorologist Cliff Mass blogging about the falling trees.

For Stevens pass, despite the higher than usual snow totals for the past two La Nina winters, December 2012 beat them. We had a total of 253 inches  by Dec. 22 – a total we didn't reach last winter until Jan. 23.



The launch pit for the SR 99 tunneling machine.  When complete, it will be 400 feet long, 80 feet wide and 80 feet deep.

Social Media
Our social media audience continued to grow in 2012 as many people found value in the real-time information we provide via those channels.  Here's an example of the content we put on Twitter.

In September, Apple released iOS 6 update that included their new mapping software. Realizing how dependent some folks are on their mobile devices for navigation we decided to raise awareness of the flaws in the new mapping system by using a little tongue-in-cheek humor on Twitter:

Although #ios6 may say differently, we can assure you that the Tacoma Narrows Bridges have not melted: bit.ly/NF6ccQ
— Washington State DOT (@wsdot) September 20, 2012

Here's a list of the rest of the best tweets of 2012.


Other notable items worth mentioning:

• First 520 pontoons floated into Lake Washington.  
• For the first time, the Coast Guard began allowing boats to pass through the drawspan in the middle of the day with two hours notice. We had to figure out how to let drivers know before they were on the road that the bridge would open at a particular time. Our traditional alerts are primarily for media outlets. For this, we knew we had to reach drivers directly and do it in a way that gave them ample warning without overdoing it… as a result, a special alert just for 520 users that they could opt to receive as a text or an email.  
• In May, crews completed an interchange on US 12 near Burbank, east of the Tri-Cities. The 60-mph traffic on US 12 no longer has to stop at a traffic signal, and  SR 124 drivers now use freeway ramps to enter and exit US 12, reducing conflicts and collisions.
• Central Washington saw one of the worst forest fires in decades dubbed the Taylor Bridge Fire that closed SR 10 and US 97 multiple times in August.
• Two I-5 widening projects were under way last year, one in Clark County and one in Lewis County. Together, they total $288 million in gas tax investments and improve traffic flow for more than 100,000 drivers. Both are still under construction and scheduled for completion within the next two years.
• Two Clark County projects eliminated three at-grade intersections, one of which (SR 500/St. Johns) was one of the most dangerous in the area, with an average of one collision a week.
• Finally started construction on the new vessel for the Keller Ferry route.  The “Sanpoil” will replace the “Martha S.’ which is the oldest vessel in our fleet, having been launched in 1948.
• Fully completed the north 5.7 miles of the 10.5-mile North Spokane Corridor freeway.

Quite a busy year when you look back on it, thanks for being there with us, here's to a safe 2013.

by Guest blogger Emily Pace

Dec. 29, 2012 marked one-year since tolling started on the SR 520 floating bridge across Lake Washington. It’s been a team effort and we thank drivers for their patience during this first year of tolling.
SR 520 traffic and revenue continue to meet projections and we are on the way to providing more than $1 billion in funding to help pay for the construction of a new bridge. Through the end of Nov. 30, 2012, SR 520 tolls have generated approximately $50 million in gross revenue. SR 520 variable tolling is also a successful traffic management tool as some drivers are adjusting their trip times to off-peak hours to take advantage of lower toll rates.
Looking back to December 2011 before tolling started, we anticipated about 48 percent drop in traffic volumes on SR 520. That projection was close to actual traffic at the start of tolling, but as expected, throughout the year we’ve seen more drivers return to the corridor and SR 520 bridge traffic is now about 70 percent of pre-toll levels.
As expected, alternate routes are busier, particularly outside of peak commute times. However, not all of the former SR 520 traffic has diverted to other routes. Here’s what we’ve seen on other routes:

• Overall we have seen a decrease of about 5 percent in the number of total trips around and across Lake Washington on SR 520, I-90 and SR 522.
• Traffic volumes on the I-90 floating bridge have increased approximately 11 percent and the average travel times in both directions of I-90 between Issaquah and Seattle have increased one to two minutes.
• Traffic volumes on SR 522 in Kenmore have increased approximately 9 percent, or about 3,800 vehicles daily. Travel times remain relatively the same as before tolling during the morning and are about two minutes longer during the afternoon.

Others took advantage of increased transit service and now take the bus instead of driving. King County Metro Transit and Sound Transit continue to see strong ridership growth across Lake Washington on SR 520. Estimated daily ridership through September 2012 was up a total of 25 percent since 2010.
The majority of drivers pay the toll using a Good To Go! account. About 84 percent of all trips across the SR 520 bridge are paid with a Good To Go! account, which is 12 percent higher than the original forecast. Through the end of November, there have been more than 18 million tolled trips on SR 520.
If you’ve driven across the SR 520 bridge without a Good To Go! account and received a toll bill in the mail, it’s not too late to open up an account. You can open a Good To Go! account, pre-pay $30 and then call customer service and have the toll bills applied to your account. You can open an account online, by calling 1-866-936-8246 or in person at a customer service center in Seattle, Bellevue or Gig Harbor.

 By guest blogger Emily Pace

Good To Go! customers can add out of town visitors to their account so they don’t have to stop at the Tacoma Narrows Bridge toll booths.

It’s the time of year when family and friends start coming into town for the holidays and we wanted to remind drivers how easy it is to temporarily add out-of-towners to your existing Good To Go! account. If you’re a Good To Go! customer there are two ways to pay tolls: install a pass in your car or register a vehicle’s license plate on your account. By simply adding a vehicle’s license plate to your account, called Pay By Plate, you can pay the tolls for that vehicle when it crosses the SR 520 or Tacoma Narrows bridges. You don’t need to install a pass.

With Pay By Plate, visitors can skip the lines at the Tacoma Narrows Bridge toll booths. We typically see heavy traffic eastbound on SR 16 near the Tacoma Narrows Bridge toll plaza on Thanksgiving Day between 5 and 11 p.m.; usually after dinner wraps-up. You can also use the 24th Street on-ramp to bypass the toll booths. Drivers without a Good To Go! account can choose to Pay By Mail on the SR 520 or Tacoma Narrows bridges and we’ll mail a bill to the registered vehicle owner within 14 days.

How Pay By Plate works: log into your online account or call customer service to add a vehicle’s license plate, make and model to a Good To Go! account. When the vehicle travels across the SR 520 or Tacoma Narrows bridges, tolling equipment will take a photo of the vehicle’s license plate. The license plate is then matched to the correct Good To Go! account and the toll is deducted.

When using Pay By Plate, drivers will be charged the posted Good To Go! toll rate plus an extra 25 cent fee for each toll transaction. Why the extra 25 cents? The extra fee helps cover the costs associated with processing these transactions. While our license plate recognition software is good, it is not perfect and some of the photos require a person to review.

While there is an extra fee, Pay By Plate is a great option for out-of-towners who are visiting someone with a Good To Go! account. You can have up to six vehicles on an account at any time, with a mix of vehicles paying with a pass or using Pay By Plate. Both options provide the lowest toll rates and allow visitors to skip receiving a bill in the mail or stopping at the toll booths on the Tacoma Narrows Bridge.

Pay By Plate only works on the SR 520 and Tacoma Narrows bridges. Solo drivers wanting to use the SR 167 HOT lanes still need a Good To Go! pass.

And remember, this is not just a special holiday offer. Pay By Plate is available year round. So whether you have family coming for Easter, friends in town for SeaFair, or you’re caravaning on a road trip, consider adding your visitor’s license plates to your Good To Go! account. You can call customer service or log into your online account to add and remove vehicles and passes as needed.