The SR167 HOT lanes opened yesterday between Renton & Auburn. It got no coverage at all in the Seattle Times / PI Sunday paper. Odd, since this is the most significant thing to have happened to WA traffic in many years.
Some other local media outlets commented a bit, mostly showing drivers being cited for the devastating crime of crossing a double white line. I wonder how many of those folks naively thought that there would actually be a place where they could merge out of the HOT lane shortly before their desired exit......
So, use caution. For example, if you are southbound and desiring to exit in Kent at Central, you must leave the HOT lane well before 212th. Current HOV commuters should be enraged about that!
I still hold to my earlier predictions from this article.
Please share your thoughts and experiences.
Was a cost justification ever done before 18 Million of our tax dollars were P'd away?
You decide!
Just check out the finances:
Cost: $18,000,000
Take in per day, Monday $557.04
Put 18 Million into a bank CD at 5% and you would get back $2,466 per day! DUH!
This is not counting maintenance, damage replacement, outages, the expense of how many new state employees to manage this mess, etc, the list is endless.
This will go down as fast as the self cleaning outhouses in Seattle as another in a long list of DOT boondoggles.
Check out the details of this on Andrew's Dad Blog:
http://andrews-dad.blogspot.com/2008/05/hot-lanes-government-at-its-tax.html
Posted by: gs on May 7, 2008 04:10 PM