Time to get those unpaid tolls caught up in Washington
All good things must come to an end. That holds true for drivers in Washington state who have been taking full advantage of the grace period for late fees on unpaid tolls.
Since it launched the new Good to Go! toll system in July 2021, the Washington State Department of Transportation stopped charging late fees and civil penalties on all express toll lanes, bridges and tunnels in the state. The DOT also stopped requesting registration holds because of unpaid tolls. That ends March 1.
The grace period gave the vendor installing the Good to Go! system sufficient time to implement changes to the system to charge late fees and penalties.
The grace period also allowed customers to adjust to the new toll billing system.
In addition to the Tacoma Narrows Bridge, the Good to Go! toll payment system also has been installed for I-405 express toll lanes, state Route 167 high-occupancy toll lanes, state Route 520 bridge tolling and state Route 99 tunnel tolling.
Drivers have three options for paying the state’s toll:
- Create a Good to Go! account and install the pass on their vehicle. This is the lowest-cost method.
- Pay at the toll booth, using cash or credit card. This method costs $1 more than the Good To Go! pass rate. Use Exit 8 on state Route 16 to access the toll booths.
- Pay by mail. A photo of the vehicle and its license plate will be taken and a bill mailed to the address where the vehicle is registered. Pay by mail costs $2 more than the Good to Go! rate.
“Our goal is to collect the toll to pay for important transportation investments,” WSDOT Toll Division Director Edward Barry said in a news release. “We want to work with customers to resolve unpaid bills, avoid fees and help them lower their bills in the process.”
For failure to pay within 80 days, drivers are assessed a civil penalty of $40 plus a $5 processing fee for each unpaid trip. LL