New tolls rank third priciest in nation
Kevin Flynn, Rocky Mountain News
Published December 29, 2005 at midnight
Bus and light-rail riders aren't the only travelers who will have to dig deeper come Sunday.
Tolls on the E-470 and Northwest Parkway portions of the metro beltway are going up 25 cents at all six mainline toll plazas. Five will go to $2 and the other will go to $1.75.
E-470 also is raising tolls to 75 cents at the remaining pay ramps that still charge 50 cents. Northwest Parkway is keeping the 50-cent toll at its two pay interchanges.
The changes will raise the cost of driving to Denver International Airport from the Park Meadows area on E-470 from $5 to $5.75. Driving the entire length of the connected tollways would go from $10.25 to $11.75 - the third most expensive toll rates in the nation at more than 20 cents a mile. Two toll roads in Orange County, Calif., cost more.
The increases are long-scheduled hikes that are part of financing plans for the public highway authorities that built the two roads. E-470 is 47 miles from Interstate 25 at Park Meadows to I-25 near 160th Avenue. Northwest Parkway is 11 miles from that point to near the Boulder Turnpike in Broomfield.
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