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The push to toll all roads in the Puget Sound is well on its way. 405 is a parking lot every day, as is I-5. There are limited ways to traverse both N/S and E/W because of geography, and they refuse to increase capacity … 99 was a free expressway until they built the tunnel, now it will be toll. In Seattle, your N/S choices are 5, 99 and surface streets with lights every block. There are only 6 bridges that cross the ship canal (Ballard, Fremont, 99, 5, Eastlake and Montlake). Once 99 is tolled, I expect Ballard to become the next on their list to turn into some form of toll road since that has the easiest route N/S.

E/W is worse. To get to the Eastside, you have 520 and 90. Tolls are already on 520, and they have been threatening to toll 90 for some time. Outside of those, you have Lake City Way around the N end of the lake, Rainier around the S, or surface streets with lights as the most direct routes … if you want to stay on the freeway, all the way up to Lynnwood to the N, or Tukwila in the South, with a possible option to cut across at MLK 2 miles before Tukwila, but the light in Skyway backs up a mile and the cops sit on it down into Renton. Once in Renton, you have a minimum of 9 lights to cross town and get back on 405.