With the north stretch of State Highway 509 running past southeast West Seattle, you might be wondering what you need to know about the tolling that starts tomorrow on the newly opened southern “expressway” stretch. Jennifer emailed us after noticing what appeared to be a transponder on the Normandy Park exit, and wondered if that meant the tolling will go that far north. We took the question to WSDOT‘s Kris Olsen, who sent the map you see above, underscoring that only the green mile will be tolled starting tomorrow (and will remain the only tolled section for a few years):
Only the first mile of the new expressway is open. The first mile is between I-5 and 24th Avenue South, so that is the only portion that will be tolled right now.
The remaining 2 miles between 24th Avenue South and South 188th Street (the Normandy Park exit) won’t open until 2028 and that’s when tolling will begin in that section.
But even then, Olsen continues, the tolled section will go no further north than S. 188th:
It’s important to note that the existing sections of SR 509 (basically between the First Avenue South bridge and South 188th Street) will NOT be tolled. Starting in 2028, anyone who drives south on SR 509 must exit at South 188th Street if they do not want to pay a toll. If they continue south beyond that point, they will be tolled. The tolling gantries are located just west of the I-5 interchange.
Toll rates for the new one-mile expressway, starting tomorrow, are listed here.
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