SEATTLE — Traffic counts are in for the first true morning commute since tolling started in Seattle's SR 99 tunnel.
There were 20% fewer vehicles in the tunnel on Tuesday morning. Transportation officials had predicted 30-50% of a drop.
Tolls went into effect on Saturday, Nov. 9. But a long holiday weekend translated into irregular traffic patterns. Over the Veterans Day weekend, traffic was down 35% despite the Sounders MLS Cup championship game, which brought more 69,000 people to the area.
But the traffic numbers compiled so far are just a snapshot of a much bigger picture.
The count from Tuesday's evening commute will be available on Wednesday, and transportation officials will continue to monitor the patterns.
"Traffic is hardly ever one-to-one," says Heather Marx of the Seattle Department of Transportation. Her agency is working with the state to manage and mitigate large numbers of vehicles diverting to other arterials in order to avoid the tolls. "You can hardly ever blame traffic on one thing."
SDOT is also awaiting results from counters in major arterials to see if that can account for the diversion.
There could have been a lot to blame Tuesday morning for added congestion on I-5. An accident blocked two lanes of the southbound mainline near Mercer just before 7 a.m. The morning rain didn't help, either.
Bart Treece with the Washington State Department of Transportation says ramp counters connected to the freeway indicated normal traffic loads for I-5.
Then there was the Sounders victory parade in downtown Seattle, which clearly brought in thousands to downtown, but it's inherently difficult to measure.
Both the city and the state traffic management centers are watching the commute carefully. The city is ready to change stoplight timing on main north-south thoroughfares such as Fourth Avenue to keep those avoiding the tunnel moving better.
And both agencies say we may not know for weeks, months, or even longer just how the legislatively-mandated tolling will finally shake out.
Here’s a breakdown of the tolling schedule:
Weekdays:
6-7 a.m. – $1.25
7-9 a.m. – $1.50
9 a.m.-3 p.m. – $1.25
3-6 p.m. – $2.25
6-11 p.m. –$1.25
11 p.m.-6 a.m. – $1
Weekends: $1