SEATTLE, Wash.-The Washington Department of Transportation has begun cracking down on drivers late on paying their tolls for crossing State Route 520 and Tacoma Narrows bridges.
The DOT will mail civil penalty notices this week as part of its new enforcement program to collect overdue bills.
The notices, sent to the registered owners of vehicles, will include an initial toll amount, a $5 reprocessing fee for each reminder bill, and an added $40 civil penalty for each unpaid toll transaction. The registered vehicle owners will have 20 days to respond to the DOT with payment or to dispute the civil penalty.
The DOT says tolls on SR 520 are expected to raise about $1 billion toward the $4.7 billion cost of replacing the 49-year-old bridge. Tolling on the Tacoma span also goes toward the debt on bonds used to finance construction of the bridge.
