I applaud the legislators for initiating a bipartisan bill on the I-405 traffic mess to eliminate tolling and minimum vehicle occupancy requirements from 7 p.m. to 5 a.m. and on holidays.

However, that does not solve the work hour commute bottleneck. I would offer the following additional suggestion.

From 5 a.m. to 7 p.m., make the far left lane for those who want to pay and the three-people occupancy drivers. Make the second lane from the left free all the time for two-person occupancy vehicles.

This would help relieve the other three lanes during work hours. Don’t make it too complicated for the Department of Transportation and keep it simple for drivers.

That may still leave the far left lane underused — if so, address it quickly, but at least we are down to only one toll lane.

Larry Brickman

Bellevue