The Transportation Commission threw disgruntled drivers and politicians a toll token bone — no tolling on Interstate 405 after 7 p.m. or weekends.

However, the bone has no meat on it and does nothing to resolve the daily parking lot on 405 and the main access feeder roads, unless you are a night owl or weekend driver.

Unfortunately, when local governments accept big brother federal funds, there are rules. In this case, the rules created additional congestion and leave the common man and commercial drivers literally sitting as collateral damage and with a bigger mess.

What do you get when you reduce the general use lanes in an already restricted corridor and charge obscene fees for the 2 (sort of) tolling lanes? Your right. You get I-405 from Bellevue to Lynnwood — the poster child of what can’t work when you force a square peg in a round hole.

When governments create something that cannot work, it takes years for them to accept or fix their mistakes while the rest of us suffer. Is there hope? If past performance is indicative of future performance — sadly no. Just more of our time and money wasted and flushed into oblivion.

Tom Shafer

Bellevue