http://www.wsdot.wa.gov/NR/rdonlyres/564...015Sept2010.pdf

The larger counties lose money on State, Federal and local transportation dollars to pay for the other counties.
Time to add tolls by county.

Not everyone heading west on 520 in the mornings is coming from Bellevue...in fact, I'd wager that the majority of them are not coming from Bellevue, much less the expensive areas in downtown Bellevue.

Unlike the original tolls from the 70's on 520 this one is not tied directly to any 520 work...when the 30 and 40 year bonds are paid off, this toll will not go away, unlike the old one did.

Fish on...

Todd

My food doesn't come from rural areas...it comes from Safeway.

Fish on...

Todd

It's a FASCINATING chart, KK. It's SO amazing to see how inversely correlated it is to political affiliation. It's a constant refrain that the GOP has convinced many folks to vote against their own self interest -- it appears that the Dems/King County have done so as well...

My guess is that everyone likes to feel like they're heroic in one way or another... Either by saving others (Dems) or by being able to subsist ENTIRELY without the support of anyone else (GOP). Both are lies.

If you like that one, IR, look up the national one...it is eerily similar...all those "anti-Socialists" are sucking at the teat of the rest of us.

It's kinda like the TeaBagger signs saying "No Government Health Care" on one side, and "Keep Your Hands off my Medicare!!" on the other side...proper spelling added by me.

Fish on...

Todd

It's a small scale "tax the rich" scenario it seems. How about that?

Let's see what the math says. I'll make it simple because the Republicans generally have problems with math.

1. 5 out of 9 majority Dem counties are net-takers - 55.56%
2. 27 out of 28 majority Republican counties are net-takers - 96.43%
3. The remaining 2 counties that are swing counties split evenly on taking/giving.
4. With King County being the most populous county in the State (by far), there is no question that in the aggregrate, the majority Dem counties are net-givers while the majority Republican counties are net-takers.

A look at KKs map is interesting. Who pays, who doesn't. I wonder..if the trucks that bring edibles into the payers realm stopped rolling, how many days before serious food and raw goods shortages developed?
Since so many like to live in an ant heap or just close to their work an obvious explanation exists for the population densities differential.
Maybe those monies sent to the counties are justified on a symbiotic
basis.

misery loves company

Illyrian,

Spoken like a true "taker".... You're justifying suckling off the state-welfare teat because you provide SOME value. Well, you get paid for your goods at the value set by your beloved free market. So if you can't afford to fix your own roads and run your own schools with that $$, then maybe you should either raise your prices... If your prices went up, we "king county" folks might just buy more local produce, which suddenly is more price competitive without all your subsidized infrastructure.

So you go on being proud of your rugged independence, when in fact your entire way of life exists only because you take 35c of every tax dollar I pay to fund it.

B

"if the trucks that bring edibles into the payers realm stopped rolling"

Which trucks? The ones from Mexico, the port, the train depot, other states? I'm betting Spokane imports more than it exports from/to King County so you are sucking off the teet all the way around.

IR, are you sure Lilly has "some value"? i don't see it. Maybe sweeping floors or something?

Thread gets stranger all the time. KK's chart is correct but it and many others do not identify why the other counties are so called takers. The biggest cost for our county is legal ( providing defense ) and most are not locals. Second item is social services and we got a ton of folks on them and most are not from this area. As housing cost & rent increases in the urban area's those with out funds end up in the rural counties. In other words we got a ton of welfare people not from around here for the lower cost of living and they draw on the services provided by the state. Seems to just work that way.

I gotta admit you are entertaining KK. Your I got a dream
was a laugh too.

Glad to help you to do something productive Koo Koo. One does not want vegetate from inactivity!

I wonder how much the gov is spending on the damn TV ads for the Good to Go sticker. What's with that?!

A good businessman like you shouldn't be surprised, this plan has been around for a couple of years.

BWP, if you have employees crossing that much, you should buy the pass. You'll save money, the bill will be tied to a particular vehicle, and payment is automatic. Seems like an easy solution to me.

It's been years since I've crossed on 520, so I don't have any real say in this, but just for entertainment purposes......
I'm not at all sure that I agree with the whole toll aspect of things....the tolls are on STATE hiways......STATE. That alone says to me that the STATE benifits, not solely those who directly use it.....such as commercial traffic that moves services and commodities to many places. So in that spirit of equity, I would like to see some sort of split responsibility. Perhaps 25% of the cost born by the STATE through a specific tax, and the remainder born by direct users.

As far as the chart goes......pthhhhh. All you have to be aware of is where the income stream comes from.....try industry for a start, and overall assessed value per county. I'm thinking a toll at the border of all the Red counties might be in order.....residents exempt, of course.

It is SR 520.

BWP - if you are a business owner, you must be the thickest brick in the shed. If the extra mileage by going over I-90 is more than 7, you are losing money by taking it. That doesn't account for the extra time either. If I am your customer and you are charging travel time, I would have some serious discussions with you about your shortsighted (and expensive) attitude.

It certainly has made my life a lot easier. Merging into traffic with that 60 footer used to give me nightmares. Now there is plenty of room to get that lumbering beast over.

The bus I drive has been full with some people standing, but I haven't had to pass anyone by. $2.50 for a ride to town and you don't have to worry about the toll, driving or parking. Seems like the way to go if you are headed downtown.

It is very nice to be able to go the speed limit out there. It's 50 by the way. Please slow down. And remember YEILD TO BUS . It's the law!