Thursday, April 02, 2009

A Clarification on HOT Lane Revenue

At the April 1, 2009 RAMP meeting Sumner Mayor Dave Enslow stated it is his understanding the revenue generated from the SR 167 HOT Lanes goes into the general fund when it should be used to help finance improvements on SR 167, specifically right-of-way purchase for the Extension project. I did not think that statement was entirely accurate but was not certain enough to speak up at the meeting. Since then I have done a little further research and here are the facts:
  1. The SR 167 HOT Lanes were never implemented to generate lots of revenue. The primary purpose of the HOT Lanes was to make better use of the available space in the existing HOV Lanes thereby providing congestion relief for all users of the corridor. In that sense we feel the HOT Lanes are a success.

  2. The revenue that is generated from the HOT Lanes is placed in a special HOT Lanes account that WSDOT is able to access to maintain and operate the HOT Lanes. To date, there is no money remaining after those operation and maintenance needs have been addressed.

Chris Picard
WSDOT Planning

1 comment:

  1. My understanding is that the HOT lanes right now are actually costing a little bit of money to operate (meaning they cost more money then they are taking in). That said this is a pilot project, it has been successful in traffic management, and if implemented on a more wide-spread basis they would bring in additional revenues. Also over time they will probably start making money on the 167 corridor

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