HOT lane tolls are essentially people paying their way past traffic, but does a $9 toll seem excessive?

KIRO Radio listener Matt Vertrees wrote in saying the toll on the Highway 167 HOT lanes was set at $9 on Monday between 6 a.m. and 7 a.m. He reports all lanes were moving fine so he wondered why the $9 toll price.

I went to the Washington State Department of Transportation to get more information on how the toll is set in real time and who is ultimately responsible for the price.

It turns out, there is no one at a special switch that watches the traffic volume and changes the variable toll price in real time. The changes are programmed into a computer algorithm that updates the price based on historical data and loop detectors in the pavement that determine average travel times.

The state is looking into whether the HOT lane toll should have been set at $9 on Monday at that time, when the road is its most congested.

WSDOT says they have been hitting the maximum toll more often in the last few months. They report one major reason: the state opened up access to the HOT lanes in August, removing the double white line so people can get in an out of it more easily. The state has seen more use of the lane and that could be pushing the demand.

The toll price is also based on the entire corridor, not just one stretch, so while it might not be busy where you are on 167, the roadway is likely experiencing heavy traffic volumes somewhere else.