Washington’s SR 167 Expressway Tolls Start Dec. 14 at $1 With a Pass

• Tolling on Washington’s SR 167 Expressway in Fife begins at 5 a.m. Monday, Dec. 14, at $1 per trip in each direction for a two-axle vehicle with a Good To Go! pass, at every hour, with no carpool or motorcycle exemption.
• A driver without a Good To Go! account is mailed a bill at $3 per trip for a two-axle vehicle, and a vehicle with more than two axles pays an extra 50 cents per axle.
• The Washington State Department of Transportation is giving away Sticker Passes free while supplies last through GoodToGo167.com, and households at or under 200 percent of the Federal Poverty Level can apply for half-price trips.

What Two Miles of New Expressway Will Cost You From Dec. 14

The Washington State Department of Transportation (WSDOT) announced on Nov. 10 that the SR 167 Expressway in Fife starts charging at 5 a.m. on Monday, Dec. 14. The tolled road links Interstate 5 with SR 509 near the Port of Tacoma. A two-axle vehicle such as an SUV or a sedan pays $1 with a valid Good To Go! pass, and the same trip costs $3 when WSDOT has to mail the bill.

The charge applies in both directions and at every hour. The road has no free overnight window, and carpoolers and motorcyclists get no exemption. Every lane is tolled, and there are no toll booths: a driver passes through without stopping, and the toll goes to the Good To Go! account, or a bill goes to the registered owner of the vehicle after the trip.

The first 2 miles opened in September and cost nothing to drive until now. WSDOT gave drivers a month’s notice, so the weeks before the start date are the window to open an account and fit a pass. A driver who does nothing can still use the road, and pays three times the pass rate for it.

Who Pays More Than $1

The gap between the pass rate and the mailed rate is $2 on every trip. WSDOT sets the mailed rate at least $2 above the pass rate, scaling with the number of axles, and puts the two-axle figure at $3. Every toll road and tolled lane in Washington bills a driver with no account at the higher mailed rate.

Put that into a commuter’s month. A round trip is two tolls, so $2 with a pass and $6 by mail. Over 20 working days, that is 40 trips: $40 with a pass and $120 without one, a difference of $80 (the arithmetic is ours, built on WSDOT’s per-trip rates). A driver who crosses the expressway once a week pays $8 a month with a pass at four round trips, against $24 by mail.

Axle count changes the bill too. For a vehicle with more than two axles, WSDOT adds 50 cents per axle to the toll. WSDOT says three or more axles means a higher toll scaled to the axle count, and the mailed rate climbs with axles too. WSDOT’s published figures stop at the 50 cents per axle, so a truck operator hauling to the Port of Tacoma should work out its own axle count before Dec. 14.

Carpoolers and motorcyclists face the sharpest change. On the I-405 and SR 167 express toll lanes, a car carrying two or more people travels free with a Flex Pass, and a rider with a Motorcycle Pass pays nothing. The Expressway grants neither. A driver who is used to a free ride with passengers on those lanes pays the full $1 here. For a wider view of toll changes, a separate roundup tracks eight states raising tolls in 2026.

The Road, the Access Limits and What Stays Free

The Expressway is a separate road from the SR 167 express toll lanes, which stretch from Sumner at SR 161 up to Renton at I-405. WSDOT describes the rates, hours and rules on the two roads as completely different. The express toll lanes vary their price with traffic, from $1 to $15 a trip, and drop the charge nightly from 8 p.m. until 5 a.m. The Expressway holds at $1 around the clock with a pass. A driver who knows one road’s rules should not assume the other follows them.

Access is limited for now. Northbound traffic can come up from SR 509 or join at 54th Avenue East, and both routes end at northbound I-5, with no exit before that point until the remaining section opens in 2029. Nobody can enter the road from northbound I-5. Southbound on I-5, a driver leaves at 54th Avenue East or carries on to southbound SR 509. WSDOT pitches the link to freight as a more direct way into and out of the Port of Tacoma that skips local streets, and expects it to take pressure off the I-5 interchanges at 54th Avenue East and Port of Tacoma Road.

WSDOT expects four more miles to open in 2029, joining I-5 to SR 167 in Puyallup and pushing the Expressway toward the Sumner end of the express toll lanes. Every nearby route without a toll stays free, so a driver who would rather not pay keeps the local roads.

Toll income pays for running and upkeep of the new road, and it also backs building work in WSDOT’s Puget Sound Gateway Project, present and planned. The Gateway budget is $2.83 billion, and $213.2 million of it must come from tolls, which is about 7.5 percent (our division of the two figures).

Washington is one of several states adjusting tolls, and Oklahoma’s turnpike tolls rise on Jan. 5.

How to Get Ready Before Dec. 14

Start with an account. Opening one at MyGoodToGo.com costs nothing. Account types differ in how they are funded: one keeps a credit card on file, the other holds a prepaid balance that tops itself up. Automatic payment removes the mailed bill, and the account bills a driver only for the toll roads used, after the trip.

Next comes the pass. A Sticker Pass normally costs $5. For a limited time WSDOT hands them out free with a promo code listed at GoodToGo167.com, and the offer ends when supplies do. A driver who already holds a pass has nothing more to buy: an existing pass works on the SR 167 Expressway.

Any pass type locks in the lowest rate on every Washington toll road, so the choice follows how a driver travels. WSDOT lists four: the Sticker Pass for solo drivers, the License Plate Pass for solo drivers whose cars have special windshields, the Flex Pass for carpoolers on the I-405 and SR 167 express toll lanes, and the Motorcycle Pass for riders. A 30-second quiz on the WSDOT tolling page points a driver to the right one.

Passes can also be bought by calling customer service on 1-866-936-8246. WSDOT expects hold times longer than usual from the end of November into early December, with the start date close. A driver who wants to order by phone has the best chance of a short wait in the days ahead.

Who Can Pay Half

From Dec. 14, drivers enrolled in the Low Income Discount Program pay half price on the SR 167 Expressway and on the SR 509 Expressway in SeaTac. At a $1 toll, half price is 50 cents a trip, which brings a 40 trip month to $20 (the arithmetic is ours).

The test is household income before taxes: 200 percent of the Federal Poverty Level or less. WSDOT translates that to $31,920 a year for a single driver and $66,000 a year for a household of four. Applications run through MyGoodToGo.com. Applicants send a copy of the vehicle registration plus proof of income, for instance an award letter from an income-qualified program or their latest federal tax return on Form 1040.

The discount stops at those two roads. A trip over the Tacoma Narrows Bridge, through the SR 99 tunnel, across the SR 520 bridge or along the I-405 and SR 167 express toll lanes costs full price.

The checklist before 5 a.m. on Dec. 14 is short. Open the Good To Go! account, order the free Sticker Pass or confirm that an existing pass works, choose the payment type, and apply for the discount if the household income qualifies. A driver with a pass and an account pays $1. A driver without them pays $3 for the same stretch of road.

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Sources

• Washington State Department of Transportation: WSDOT announces Dec. 14 start date for tolling on SR 167 Expressway in Fife
• WSDOT Blog: Everything you need to know about SR 167 Expressway tolling
• WSDOT Toll Division: The new SR 167 Expressway is now open

Reviewed by Preetam Gadekar