Written by I represent Renton on a committee of local officials chartered to review various concepts for adding a new toll lane to I-405, along with much-desired flyover connections between I-405 and I-167. The extra lane and flyover connections would reduce congestion, but the tolling aspect obviously makes it controversial. It’s very important that any chosen concept is as fair to all users and taxpayers as possible. Here is the latest news on this topic in the Bellevue Reporter.
About the author
Hi, I’m Randy Corman. Welcome to my blog! I served on Renton City Council for 28 years, 1994-2021, with six years as Renton Council President. I’m also a mechanical engineer and manager, and worked for the Boeing Company for 33 years, from 1984- 2017. My wife and I have five kids and six grandkids, and we all live in Renton. I’ve kept this blog for 19 years, and get thousands of readers each month. Please share your feedback, ideas, and opinions in the comments.
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Recent Comments
- Anonymous on False front; Historic Renton High will be reduced to a facade instead of promised preservation
- Marcie Palmer on City pays $49,000 to write new Renton Pavilion Market lease; let the city know what it should say
- Sandy Basquette on Motorists and businesses losing patience with delayed Rainier Avenue project, originally scheduled to finish this week
- Randy Corman on City pays $49,000 to write new Renton Pavilion Market lease; let the city know what it should say
- Anonymous on City pays $49,000 to write new Renton Pavilion Market lease; let the city know what it should say
- Randy Corman on Motorists and businesses losing patience with delayed Rainier Avenue project, originally scheduled to finish this week
- Anonymous on Motorists and businesses losing patience with delayed Rainier Avenue project, originally scheduled to finish this week
- Anonymous on Motorists and businesses losing patience with delayed Rainier Avenue project, originally scheduled to finish this week
- Robin Adams on Renton Historical Society in a holding pattern while Renton Airport prepares to tear down historic tower
- Randy Corman on City pays $49,000 to write new Renton Pavilion Market lease; let the city know what it should say
- Anonymous on City pays $49,000 to write new Renton Pavilion Market lease; let the city know what it should say
- Anonymous on Renton School District falsely claims taxes are dropping while they are are rapidly increasing
- Anonymous on When did Renton Council stop publicly discussing issues?
- Anonymous on City pays $49,000 to write new Renton Pavilion Market lease; let the city know what it should say
- Emma on City pays $49,000 to write new Renton Pavilion Market lease; let the city know what it should say
- Anonymous on City pays $49,000 to write new Renton Pavilion Market lease; let the city know what it should say
Recent Posts
- Motorists and businesses losing patience with delayed Rainier Avenue project, originally scheduled to finish this week
- City pays $49,000 to write new Renton Pavilion Market lease; let the city know what it should say
- North Renton residents issue press release about their Logan Six appeal
- When did Renton Council stop publicly discussing issues?
- Renton School District falsely claims taxes are dropping while they are are rapidly increasing
- Boeing Field runway closures likely to bring nighttime jet traffic to Renton through October
- Renton Historical Society in a holding pattern while Renton Airport prepares to tear down historic tower
- Why Logan Six spiraled into protests, and why it affects everyone in Renton
- Renton High School is already $126 million over voter-approved budget, before inflation, rezones, lawsuits, and tariffs
- False front; Historic Renton High will be reduced to a facade instead of promised preservation
- The Renton High grad that made the music we grew up with
- Beautiful $11,500,000 Renton High Science Center, completed last year, to be demolished
- Upcoming “Missing Middle” zoning changes complicate School District property acquisition
- Renton High’s proposed baseball field could be the nation’s most expensive ever
- Derelict Park Ave parking garage to remain; it’s unusable without major investment
- You are their boss! How to influence city leaders
- Renton Airport leadership dodges maintenance responsibility, causing drama at Boeing Field
- Does Public Works Director have imaginary “top men” assisting him?
- Fumbled! Renton amicus brief would have saved Cedar Valley Aquifer from asphalt plant
- Where does our drinking water actually come from? Don’t ask our Public Works Director
- Hearing Examiner approves Logan Six
- North Renton neighborhood holds protests after Council rejects their request to review projects
- Renton city officials cannot duck responsibility in School District plan to evict residents
- Renton High neighborhood property takings; did we really vote to condemn all these homes?
- Bob Baker’s comments to Renton City Council regarding the Asphalt Plant
- Here’s the data; my rebuttal to the Renton Council President’s letter on the Asphalt Plant
- Where’s the poison? Renton’s Public Works Director should read Renton’s well field study
- When is condemnation appropriate?
- Renton School Board, with minimal discussion, sends world-class glass studio packing
- Public Hearing tonight on School District use of Eminent Domain for Renton High School
- City’s new website leaves out meetings; Council off-site tomorrow and Friday
- Renton administration preparing to call government scientific and engineering data “misinformation”
- State did not require Renton to approve Logan Six with too little parking
- Renton leaders focus on “storytelling” as residents ask for data, assistance and transparency
- There is plenty to discuss from last night’s City Council Meeting; I’ll post articles in coming hours and days
- Renton’s Urban Foresters help maintain our beautiful tree canopy
- Council changes policy at worst possible time for North Renton residents, denying them Council representation
- Renton’s visionary Mayor Barbara Shinpoch was a champion in protecting our drinking water
- Asphalt plant will only remove 30%-60% of deadly contaminants before injecting runoff into our aquifer
- Until Sound Transit and Metro better serve us, Renton should rework our parking standards
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Recent Comments
- on False front; Historic Renton High will be reduced to a facade instead of promised preservation
- Marcie Palmer on City pays $49,000 to write new Renton Pavilion Market lease; let the city know what it should say
- Sandy Basquette on Motorists and businesses losing patience with delayed Rainier Avenue project, originally scheduled to finish this week
- Randy Corman on City pays $49,000 to write new Renton Pavilion Market lease; let the city know what it should say
- on City pays $49,000 to write new Renton Pavilion Market lease; let the city know what it should say
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Thanks Randy for being part of the committee – we’re well served when you’re using your noodle.
Hot Lanes
Mr. Corman, While there may be other reasons to implement HOT lanes on I-405 (though I doubt it), revenue generation is one one of them. Look at the net cost for installation and operations vs. revenue on the 167 HOT lanes and you will see that they operate at a loss, and will likely never pay back the installation expense.
Carpool lanes, with open to all times in the off hours based on traffic statistics, are simpler, more cost effective, provide transit with a path through traffic, and better encourage carpooling and transit use.
WSDOT’s love of HOT lanes is not supported by their own data on 167 if you look at it objectively. Don’t let them implement a similar, wasteful, and confusing system on I-405.
Renton Resident and daily 167 driver.
Re: Hot Lanes
Have you ever driven on 405 at rush hour? The HOV lane is at a dead stop in many places. People are giving up going to the slight inconvenience of carpooling and bus riding as the return can be so little.
Hopefully the transportation discussions focus on options beyond single car use, and not just petty changes like HOV or HOT lanes. All those “solutions” do is push the problem back a little bit. This region is notoriously behind the times when it comes to mass transit (rail). Of course, that most likely will not happen until the WA constitution is changed to allow gas taxes to be better spread around on more creative options instead of only going towards roads.
Re: Hot Lanes
Southbound on 405 near I-90 the HOV speeds drop because too many idiots try to exit the HOV lane at the last moment to hit either the I-90 exit or the Facotria exit. They drop to 10 mph to merge, rather than merge half a mile before hand.
The HOV lanes there should not allow for exiting and merging there for about a mile – they do that on I5 northbound near the 405 exit and it really helped making people not wait for the last moment.
Re: Hot Lanes
same thing happens on southbound 405 near 167. People drive the HOV lane until they are past the Benson road overpass. Then they drop down to 10 mph – or less – while trying to merge into the 167 southbound exit. The southbound 405 HOV lane should not allow exiting starting at the Maple Valley highway until past 167.
hot lanes are a way the government steals twice.
what needs to be done is the shoulders removed and if you get disabled your car gets towed. than we have 5 lanes of travel and not bottle neckd.
i405/sr167 congestion will never be fixed until the state actually listens to people who travel it and not some guy sitting in a construction trailer who has no clue how to get his sandwhich out of the parer bag.
but we all know they government wont listen to the people
There’s an Autoroute in France near Paris that does that – there are roving tow trucks that have an articulated arm. When a car breaks down, the tow truck driver parks behind the car and extends the arm over the car, puts two Kevlar straps around the car and swings the car over trafic onto the bed of the tow truck. In the process, the Kevlar straps dent the heck out of the car.
The car is gone in under a minute.
Driving down from Bellevue, there’s defiantly room for one more lane on 405. If you made the disabled driver pay $1000 or so, you could pay for the roving tow trucks.
Agree on I405 being overloaded, even the carpool lane. They seemed to fix the I90 interchage going north but going south there is a parking lot. A toll there won’t solve anything unless they put a lane or more there all the way to 167.
-H
Thanks for good stuff