It’s obvious – I-405’s new tolling lanes are a mess. The commute-time tolls are eye-popping for many motorists. Even worse, despite adding a new toll lane in each direction, commute times for drivers in the regular lanes have actually increased. Seemingly only WSDOT itself can’t admit the new system is a failure. Shift looks at some new legislation that aims to fix the mess WSDOT created for itself.
We also turn attention today to a new bill that would allow the public and press to view state employee contract negotiations. Currently, those negotiations happen behind closed doors between the unions and the governor they spent millions to elect!
Shift also highlighted a little publicity stunt the state schools superintendent pulled on Gov. Inslee yesterday, and noted a bit of hypocrisy on the guv’s part regarding the new initiative to raise the statewide minimum wage.