William Popp Associates

Transportation Engineers/Planners
________________________________________________________________________
(425) 401-1030
e-mail: info@wmpoppassoc.com

MEMORANDUM
January 9, 2017
TO:
FROM:
RE:

Mayor John Stokes, Chair of ETP
William Popp, P.E.
2017 ETP Legislative Agenda - Draft Revision K )Long and Short forms)

At the December 9 meeting I made a few brief remarks and handed out a limited number of
copies of suggested revisions to the legislative priorities as they relate to I-405 plus a paper
entitled “WSDOT is Rewriting the History of the I-405 Master Plan”. On December 19,
Sammamish Mayor Emeritus Odell sent Revised Legislative Priorities in long form and short
form to ETP members.
As before, the positions on I-405 are generally not consistent with the adopted I-405 Master Plan.
It has been my impression over the years that the majority of the members would prefer the
congestion relief solution of the Master Plan, if funds were available, as opposed to the managed
lanes solution that the Legislature and WSDOT have implemented in the north section and are
planning to continue in the south section.
To that end I am respectfully submitting modifications to the priorities that direct legislative
policy toward implementation of the original I-405 Master Plan along with some discussion
below re why ETL’s (Express Toll Lanes) are not the best solution. To expedite delivery to all I
am taking the liberty of asking Susan Oxholm to submit this material to the full ETP email list.
As a transportation planning engineer with extensive direct experience with Puget Sound
regional and sub-regional transportation system planning with a special focus on the suburban
crescent, I can unequivocally say that the original I-405 Master Plan will provide substantial
congestion relief in the I-405 corridor whereas the Express Toll Lane solution will not.
ETL’s are elitist and inefficient
In the final analysis ETL’s require GP lane congestion to work and thus the prime beneficiaries
of ETL’s are the toll payers – “mobility for the nobility and gridlock for the rest” per Mike
Lindblom. In the current I-405 operation 80% of the toll payers have incomes above the median.
South bound in the AM tolls are running $10 every day! How many hourly wage workers can
afford that or even half of that?
And if the State didn’t implement this for revenue purposes as Representative Clibborn now
claims, then why do it? Because it was supposed to eke out more performance? But it clearly
doesn’t automatically make the freeway run more efficiently as evidenced by the section north of
Bothell where converting a 2+ HOV lane to 3+ ETL made congestion worse in the GP lanes. In
addition the accidents in the corridor are significantly higher and the operation in the widened
sections is extremely confusing to a lot of motorists. ETL’s have only improved speeds and
reduced delay where capacity was added and in those cases the benefits would be more fairly and
14-400 Building  Suite 206  14400 Bel-Red Road  Bellevue, WA 98007

 efficiently distributed if that capacity were in the form of GP lanes. These are some things we
have learned from the “pilot project”.
ETL’s are ideologically driven
It is important for decision makers to understand that the so-called managed lanes solution is an
ideologically based one with an overarching goal of substantially reducing statewide vehicle
travel per capita (50% reduction by 2050) to reduce C02 emissions (“VMT Reduction Law”,
2008). This in turn was expected to force shifts to transit and car pooling and some would even
say to make voters more inclined to support the light rail system. Thus it is not a coincidence
that a new I-405 Executive Advisory Group was established in 2009 with the objective of
redirecting the Master Plan to managed lanes operation (even though the current message from
Rep. Clibborn is managed lanes were always intended – see attached WSDOT is Rewriting
History of I-405 Master Plan).
In the larger picture, implementation of this VMT reduction law effectively precludes WSDOT
from adding any significant GP capacity to the freeway system. But ironically, in doing so, the
ensuing system wide congestion can actually result in more emissions, more delay, and more
congestion on our local street systems. The “war on cars” movement has legs in Olympia, folks.
Tolls are carbon stupid
In addition the tolls are “carbon-stupid” as Ed Newbold, Wildlife Artist, points out in one of his
Seattle Times public service advertisements – “Hummers pay the same as a Yaris”. Far better to
raise the gas tax as needed to build the system the engineers know we need and to continue
raising it as the fleet fuel efficiency response directs. And meantime we can have a healthy
economy and an improved quality of life while the cost of fuel is incentivizing a lower emission
fleet.
ETP et al being worn down by WSDOT messaging
To me there has been an understandable acquiescence on the part of elected officials and staffs to
the current I-405 ETL trajectory and a diminution of resolve to address a most fundamental
public need -- congestion relief. The ETL messaging has been enormous, glitzy, and selectively
packaged to stress its theoretical benefits while ignoring its many downsides. Fundamental to
the messaging was the notion that the HOV lanes were overcrowded when in fact they were not.
The lanes were victims rather of unlimited access friction combined with extreme congestion in
the GP lanes and bus drivers that are prohibited from driving more than 20 mph faster than the
adjacent lanes. On this overcrowding note the HOV forecast given to the Expert Review Panel
in 2010 by WSDOT’s consultant using a proprietary model were grossly overstated with HOV’s
increasing by a factor of up to 2.4 by 2014 – HOV lane use has actually been flat over that period
with even some slight declines.
Of course adding a lane each way, even with the complications of ETL operation, cannot help
but reduce delay and improve speeds. Alternatively, increasing the capacity of I-405 by one or
better yet two GP lanes each way with limited access HOV per the Master Plan will have a huge
positive impact on congestion with no need to “manage” the freeway at the expense of the less
affluent and our local arterial street systems.

 Reflection and Suggested Resolve
To put this in another context, how do we not add basic I-405 freeway capacity when we expect
60,000 more people and 100,000 more jobs in just four of the key cities in the immediate
corridor area by 2030? Our suburban trip patterns are extremely diverse and thus the planned
alternative modes including BRT and car sharing are limited in their effectiveness – average 5%
transit and 23% HOV person trip shares projected on I-405 for the peak period in 2020. In
addition the supporting arterial system is essentially tapped out, and in several locations there are
no alternatives to I-405 travel.
To be a little corny, congestion relief and quality of life in the suburban crescent are inseparable.
The defense for not providing the relief is the oft repeated “we can’t build our way out of
congestion” mantra – that’s pure baloney intended to weaken your resolve. The Master Plan in
the section south of I-90 and north of SR 522 increases GP capacity by 100% -- that can’t help
but give us some serious congestion relief for a good number of years. And we can afford it.
The job here as I see it is for the eastside elected officials to be united in message to the
legislature and when opportunities to be heard arise, representative(s) from the ETP should be
present and vocal. And the same applies with respect to the Puget Sound Regional Council in its
deliberations of the 2018 Metropolitan Transportation Plan Update. Suburban officials need to
have a stronger role in the policy direction including an open debate regarding the planned region
wide managed freeway lane solution.
Attachments
 Eastside Transportation Partnership 2017 Legislative Priorities – Popp edit version
below
 WSDOT is Rewriting the History of the I-405 Master Plan

ETP 2017 Legislative Priorities – Popp suggested revised language
4. I-405 – This road is the second highest volume freeway in the state of Washington,
is running 10 hours of congestion daily in the section south of I-90, and is crucial to
the Puget Sound region’s continued growth and economic development. We urge
fully funding the remaining improvements in the I-405 Master Plan as defined by the
I-405 Master Plan FEIS, Appendix B (referred to below as Master Plan) with special
emphasis on:
a.

Reconfiguring the key interchanges at I-90, SR-520, SR-522 SR-527,
and to I-5 to improve overall corridor traffic flow. This should include direct
HOV to HOV connections as warranted by traffic operations studies.
b. Addition of one or more general purpose lanes in each direction between
Bellevue and the South Center interchange with I-5, as defined by the
Master Plan.
c. Addition of direct access interchanges along with buffer protection,
limited access and adequate shoulder for the single HOV 2+ lane each

 way between Bellevue and the South Center interchange with I-5, all as
defined by the Master Plan.
d. Conversion of the existing two ETL’s each way to one buffer protected
HOV 2+ lane and a general purpose lane from Bellevue to Bothell along
with addition of one more GP lane each way as per the Master Plan.
e. Conversion of the existing ETL from Bothell to Lynwood to a buffer
protected HOV 2+ lane along with addition up to two GP lanes each way
as per the Master Plan.
Furthermore, we recommend the highest state project priority status be given to I405 in any applications for presumed Trump administration infrastructure grants.
In addition the ETP requests that should there be no legislative action in 2017
setting this new course of direction for the project, that the WSDOT be prevented
from sale of toll bonds at the conclusion of the north section ETL pilot project as
scheduled for September 2017.
10. Regional Transit – We urge the legislature to direct WSDOT and Sound Transit to
work as expeditiously as possible toward early implementation of the I-405 corridor
BRT, Park and Ride lots, and direct access interchange improvements as approved
for ST3.