County District Court to Dismiss Remaining Narrows Bridge Infractions

Pierce County District Court has notified the Washington State Department of Transportation it will dismiss 14,000 Tacoma Narrows Bridge infractions. The court said the demands of researching, processing and responding to toll inquires have consumed a large amount of resources and resolving the remaining infractions would create a severe drain.

“We respect Pierce County District Court’s decision to dismiss the remaining infractions and appreciate their support this past year as we transitioned to our new toll system,” said Craig Stone, WSDOT Toll Division Director. “We will work with our vendor to address the revenue loss.”

WSDOT estimates the revenue of these dismissed infractions, issued between September and December 2011, is about $70,000.

WSDOT and Pierce County have worked together since 2007 to process toll violations on the Tacoma Narrows Bridge. Problems with the Notice of Infraction process began to emerge in February 2011 when WSDOT’s vendor implemented a new toll system. WSDOT’s vendor fixed several defects last year but the infraction process remained unreliable.

“Setting up the new system is complex and these issues were the result of that,” said Stone. “We’re eager to complete this final cleanup so we can close the books on the old Notice of Infraction process.”

WSDOT ended the Notice of Infraction process Dec. 3 with the introduction of photo tolling and a new payment option, Pay By Mail. Drivers who bypass the toll booths without a Good To Go! pass will receive a bill in the mail instead of an infraction.

“Photo tolling is more predictable, more reliable and customer friendly,” said Stone.

More information about Tacoma Narrows Bridge tolling is available at www.wsdot.gov/tolling/tnbtolling. To learn more about the Good To Go! Program, visit www.wsdot.wa.gov/goodtogo.