Toll Facilities. The Legislature must authorize a facility as toll-eligible before it may be tolled. The Transportation Commission is the state's tolling authority with responsibility for setting toll rates. The Department of Transportation is the operator of the authorized toll facilities, which include the following:
| Facility | Tolling Initiation | Format |
| Tacoma Narrows Bridge | 2007 | bridge - all lanes tolled (eastbound only) |
| SR 520 Bridge | 2011 | bridge - all lanes tolled |
| I-405/SR 167 Express Toll Lanes | 2015/2008 | roadway - 1-2 lanes tolled |
| Puget Sound Gateway | 2026 (assumed) | roadway - all lanes tolled |
| SR 99 Tunnel | 2019 | tunnel - all lanes tolled |
Project Financing. In the past 20 years, Washington State has used a range of methods to finance larger transportation projects. The State Route (SR) 520 Bridge is the only facility for which toll-backed bonds have been issued in this time period. The bridge was partially paid for with these toll-backed bonds, in addition to state funds, federal funds, federal loans or grants, and local funds. The Tacoma Narrows Bridge and SR 99 Tunnel have used tolls to cover project costs, but instead of toll-backed bonds, used a repayment structure where tolls reimburse another state funding source used to issue bonds.
In 2019, ESSB 5825 passed, which authorized both tolling on the I-405/SR 167 Express Toll Lane (ETL) and Puget Sound Gateway facilities, and the issuance of up to $1.5 billion in bonds to fund various project priorities.
For the I-405 and SR 167 express toll lanes facility, bonds supported by toll revenues from the facility are prohibited from being issued until:
For the Puget Sound Gateway facility, bonds supported by toll revenues from the facility are prohibited from being issued until:
PRO: Bonding over 25 years is risky when events like the current pandemic can greatly impact traffic levels and toll revenue. If toll-backed bonds had been sold before the pandemic, there would not be enough money to pay them back right now. The projects should still be completed, but with other revenue sources. Tolling a congestion management facility and then bonding that revenue can result in incentivizing permanent congestion.
CON: The I-405 and SR 167 projects and studies should be kept on track so that bus rapid transit time savings can be maintained, and local planning around these projects will not go to waste. Removing the ability to bond the tolls would hinder progress toward the I-405 Master Plan, which a large coalition supports. The toll revenues are already recovering from the pandemic, and are expected to go up quickly with more rapid job growth expected. The corridor needs multiple travel options and congestion reduction.
Keeping the current Gateway funding and timeline is crucial to economic recovery, freight mobility, and port competitiveness. Taking away the facility's ability to bond could jeopardize local contributions and may kill the project since the schedule requires the toll dollars to complete the project, and you can not collect tolls unless the road is built. The pandemic is not a good reason to undo all the hard work that has gone into the project for the last 30 years.
OTHER: The Gateway project should be considered separately since all of the lanes are tolled, which creates resiliency since drivers can't simply use the next lane over to avoid a toll. This is an essential freight facility that will provide important access to the Port of Seattle and Port of Tacoma, create 80,000 new jobs, improve safety, and help with economic recovery. There are many types of funds invested into this project already, and any further delays could be devastating to the project.