Washington state

Toll collection began uneventfully Thursday (2011-12-29)  on the WA520 bridge over Lake Washington east of Seattle. Wednesday had seen a record day of motorists - about 6,000 - establishing new 'Good to Go' brand sticker tag transponder accounts to pay the tolls. At exactly 5am according to local reports the orange on black toll rate signs went from $0.00 to $1.60 as the first charges kicked in.

Tolls will start at the busy Washington state route 520 (WA520) floating bridge December 29, Washington State DOT announces today. This had been originally scheduled for the spring, then the summer, but contractors had difficulty getting the all-electronic toll (AET) system and customer service center operating reliably.

A ballot Initiative (I-1125) that could have heavily restricted tolling failed in Washington state in voting Wednesday, the latest numbers being 710,368 for, and 772,638 against out of 1.48m votes cast. King County which covers the Seattle metro area where most proposed toll projects are located saw a heavy and decisive vote against the measure: 237k against to 145k in favor a 62/38 percentage split.

A report in the Tacoma News Tribune this morning turns up the political heat on Washington state DOT (WsDOT) and its back office contractor Electronic Transactions Consultants Corp (ETCC) over delays in starting tolls. The report claims ETCC would be liable for $12m in liquidated damages if the department fully enforced the contract provisions against ETCC.

After a false start to tolling of the SR520 floating bridge in Seattle last spring Washington State DOT say they are confident they'll be ready for a smoother start in December.  Contracts originally provided for a start in November 2010.

Dave Dye, WSDOT deputy secretary is quoted: “We’re confident we can start tolling SR 520 in December with a system that is reliable, accountable and able to handle more than 100,000 daily transactions."

Washington State DOT is moving to procure toll systems to be implemented starting in 2012 for two new projects in the Seattle area - the WA99 Alaskan Way Tunnel (2 toll points) and I-405 Express Toll Lanes (18 toll points.) The systems will at some point be extended to the Tacoma Narrows Bridge WA16, and the WA520 Floating Bridge Replacement. Both of these two currently have toll systems - but troubled ones, not working adequately, WSDOT says.

Washington State Department of Transportation – Toll Division Washington State Roadway Toll Systems

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The Washington State Department of Transportation intends to procure Roadway Toll Systems in the Fall of 2011.

Washington State DOT say they have ceased issuing toll violations until "glitches" are resolved in the back office supplied by Electronic Transaction Consultants Corp (ETC).

Washington state is having a rough start-up to tolling the 520 bridge. They transitioned to a new customer service contractor Feb 14, and their marketing generated much more telephone call demand for new transponders than they could handle.

Washington State DOT say they are going with a new family of ISO 18000 6C transponders from Federal Signal/Sirit (FS/S) at the front end of their "Good To Go!" brand electronic tolling. They are presently using eGo Plus sticker tags from TransCore - a proprietary development of the previous generation ISO 18000 6B system.