For whom the highways toll

Highway tolling has won the support of the Washington State Transportation Commission, which now sends its recommendations to the Legislature. The idea is not popular, which legislators well know, but the public could be won over if it is done right.

Tolling has the power to do two things: It can pay for a project and it can defeat traffic congestion. The first is an idea that people generally accept. It is how the people paid for the floating bridges built over Lake Washington in 1940 and 1963, the Hood Canal Floating Bridge and Tacoma Narrows Bridge, and it is how they will pay for the second span over the Tacoma Narrows when it opens next year.

Using tolls to beat congestion is a newer idea. It arises from the observation that a highway lane carries the most vehicles at 45 miles per hour. Above that, the cars go faster but require more space between them; below that, the cars are too slow. That means that whenever freeway speeds fall below 45, the road is being wasted.

The obvious answer is to manage access. The state has tried it with signal lights, which don't help enough. The economists want to do it with price.

At the peak of rush hour, it might cost $10 to get on a superhighway, which would no longer be a freeway. An hour later it might be half that, and at night the toll would come off. The toll would be calculated to keep the traffic moving at least at 45, providing the public the maximum value from the road.

The commission is not proposing such a plan. But it aims in that direction. It proposes that tolls for bridges be varied by time of day, according to use, and that they not come off when the bridge is paid for.

It also supports the plan to turn the bus and carpool lane on Highway 167 south of Renton into a bus, carpool and toll lane, also with variable tolls.

These are intriguing ideas. Let's try them carefully, one step at a time, and see what works.