Background:

High Occupancy Vehicle and High Occupancy Toll Lanes.

High Occupancy Vehicle (HOV) lanes are highway lanes reserved part-time or full-time for vehicles carrying a minimum number of occupants. These lanes are intended to facilitate the operation of transit vehicles and other multi-occupant vehicles by providing improved travel times. The Washington State Department of Transportation (WSDOT) has the authority to designate HOV lanes on state highways. There are currently over 200 miles of HOV lanes in operation in the central Puget Sound area.

High Occupancy Vehicle lanes may operate below capacity at times when adjacent general purpose lanes are congested. High Occupancy Vehicle lanes can be converted to High Occupancy Toll (HOT) lanes to utilize excess HOV-lane capacity by allowing toll-paying single occupant vehicles to use these lanes alongside vehicles that meet the occupancy requirements if a toll is paid for this use. The Legislature must designate a facility as an eligible toll facility for WSDOT to have the authority to impose charges for the use of these lanes by vehicles that do not meet WSDOT-set minimum vehicle occupancy requirements.

State Route 167 Tolling.

In 2005 the Legislature authorized an HOT-lane pilot project on State Route 167 (SR 167) in King County. The WSDOT is permitted to vary dynamic toll rates to ensure that toll-paying single-occupant vehicles are only permitted to enter the lane when the average vehicle speeds in the lane can be maintained above 45 miles per hour at least 90 percent of the time during peak hours. Toll charges may not be assessed on transit buses and vanpool vehicles owned or operated by a public agency. The WSDOT is required to modify the pilot project to address any safety issues that are identified and to mitigate any negative impacts on HOV-lane users.

High Occupancy Toll lanes on nine miles of SR 167 opened in 2008. Since that time, the facility has been expanded to 14 miles of HOT lanes from the City of Renton to the City of Pacific. The lanes are tolled between 5:00 a.m. and 7:00 p.m. seven days a week. Toll rates charged range from 50 cents to $9, varying based on HOT lane speeds and traffic volumes. The HOT lanes are open to all drivers free of charge after 7:00 p.m. Vehicles with at least two occupants, vanpools, and buses may use the HOT lanes toll-free at any time.

The WSDOT is required to monitor the pilot project and to report annually to the Legislature and the Washington State Transportation Commission on: the impact of the facility on freeway efficiency and safety; its effectiveness for transit; person and vehicle movements by mode; the ability to finance improvements and transportation services through tolls; and the impacts of the facility on all highway users.

In 2016 the HOT lanes generated $1.4 million in revenue and had operating expenses of $834,000.

Authorization to impose tolls on SR 167 is required to expire if tolls are being collected on June 30, 2017. Authorization to impose tolls on SR 167 also would have been required to expire if no contracts were let by the WSDOT to begin construction of the HOT lanes by July 24, 2009.