Committee reviews roadside technology study; WSDOT proposes smartphone occupancy pilot for express toll lanes

The Senate Transportation Committee on Feb. 25 heard results of a commission-led assessment of roadside technologies and a WSDOT proposal to pilot smartphone-based vehicle-occupancy verification in express toll lanes.

Carl C., deputy director for the Washington State Transportation Commission, summarized a study directed by the 2023 Legislature. The commission scanned the market and evaluated 18 vendors between August 2023 and June 2024, narrowing the field to four top vendors. The study evaluated capabilities such as embedded communications and power, a limited roadside footprint and license-plate reading accuracy greater than 95 percent. It concluded that a range of technologies could support HOV detection, toll entry/exit detection, speed detection and wrong-way-driver detection, but that implementing them in Washington may require…