More taking fast lane

Success of I-25 Express fuels support for extension to Boulder

Kevin Flynn, Rocky Mountain News

Published July 21, 2007 at midnight

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The year-old Interstate 25 Express toll lanes are drawing more than three times the expected number of rush-hour commuters, a surprising record that boosts Denver's chances for millions in federal dollars to extend them to Boulder.

Planners initially figured 500 solo drivers would pay tolls during the average weekday rush hour and that the operation would bring in $80,000 a month after the first few months.

But since January, morning rush hour has seen a daily average of between 1,425 and 1,861 solo drivers per month. Averages in the evening are similar. The total number of paying customers has ranged from roughly 72,000 to 90,000 a month.

The take for the Colorado Department of Transportation: between $144,216 and $181,917 in monthly toll revenue.

Connie Dines is typical of the reason for the success of the I-25 Express Lanes. The Greenwood Village resident frequently hops onto the toll lanes even when there's not much traffic on I-25.

"There are no big trucks in the toll lanes, so all of the issues surrounding them are not present," Dines said. She also avoids traffic hazards at exit and entrance ramps.

Fighting congestion

Car pools and buses use the I-25 Express Lanes for free. Solo drivers are charged on a sliding scale. The tolls are collected electronically through a driver's prepaid account. During light traffic hours - overnight and midafternoon - solo drivers pay 50 cents. The cost gradually steps up as morning and evening rush hours approach and tops out at $3.25 for the 7:15 to 8:15 a.m. morning peak and 4:30 to 6 p.m. evening peak. It steps back down after that to the 50-cent level.

The concept of some drivers paying to do the rush-hour equivalent of jumping ahead in line is controversial. Critics say the success of toll lanes depends on maintaining congestion in free lanes, encouraging drivers who can afford it to pay for a smooth ride. Thus the pejorative nickname "Lexus lanes."

Traffic planners prefer to call them HOT lanes, for "High Occupancy Toll." They have been pushed strongly by the Bush administration. It has put $1.1 billion on the table for up to five pilot projects that would fight traffic congestion with a combination of what it calls the "Four Ts:" tolling, transit, technology and telecommuting.

Plans for expansion

In large part due to the success of the I-25 HOT lanes, the metro area is a finalist for nearly $200 million from that federal kitty to extend the toll lanes - and with them, the exclusive car pool and bus lanes - all the way to Boulder on U.S. 36.

CDOT will learn next month whether it will land the grant. The money would help build one lane in each direction separated from the free lanes by a four-foot-wide painted buffer zone. It would cost an estimated $234.5 million, with 80 percent funded by the federal grant.

The full plan, however, is much more expensive because it requires more widening. It includes four toll lanes, two in each direction, separated by concrete barriers from the free lanes.

It would have bus stations in the median for RTD's proposed Bus Rapid Transit service, part of FasTracks.

Its price tag has been estimated at $1.9 billion.

CDOT is eyeing at least six other highway segments in metro Denver for HOT lanes. It argues that there's not enough money to expand those roads without toll revenue. And, it says, the infusion of extra dollars under the voter-approved Ref C won't help. That's because Ref C money is earmarked for specific projects that have languished without funding for 11 years.

Opposition along C-470

Robert Poole of the Reason Foundation, a free market think tank, said Denver's success would help catapult numerous other HOT lane projects in at least eight other states.

"Everybody around the country who is working on this issue is excited about what's happened in Denver," Poole said. "It encourages and strengthens the case for other projects."

But HOT lanes have opponents who say they make congestion a permanent fixture on highways. Without congestion, few would pay a toll, they say.

"Toll lanes are not completely out of the question, but you have to take a hard look at each situation," said Duane Fellhauer, Douglas County's public works director who opposes CDOT's plan for four toll lanes on C-470.

The county wants CDOT to add one free lane in each direction instead, saying that would ease congestion. If toll lanes are built, there is no incentive to improve the rest of C-470 since that would erode the market for willing toll-payers, Fellhauer said.

Plan faces challenges

The governments along U.S. 36 once opposed the toll lanes there as well. But the availability of federal funds and the success of the I-25 Express Lanes contributed to a change of heart. "It's been successful and provided a congestion relief option," said Debra Baskett, Broomfield's transportation manager. "People have a choice in using it. The casual observer can look over the mix of buses, car pools and solo drivers using it, and say it was a good test case."

But CDOT faces several challenges as it moves ahead with the proposed U.S. 36 extension.

First, there are technical issues with the electronic equipment. From time to time, the system fails and tolls aren't collected. CDOT got no tolls the last two days in June after extreme high temperatures fried a portion of the roadside electronics.

Another problem is a legal one. Earlier this year, Joe Metzger, of Englewood, driving as a car pool with his wife, used the lane designated for toll collection instead of the one for car pools. That generated an automatic ticket.

He fought it because car pools are free. CDOT dropped the $70 fine for toll evasion, but Metzger went to court over the $7 administration fee the state wanted. His argument: The law guarantees car pools the right to unrestricted use of the entire facility. Therefore, CDOT has no right to keep him out of the toll-only lane.

He won, forcing CDOT to suspend issuing tickets for a time.

Fines gave CDOT a substantial financial boost. Since last June, the state took in $665,188 in fines, mostly from solo drivers using the road without paying.

Ticketing will resume as early as next week. CDOT had always dismissed the $70 fine for drivers who claimed they were in a car pool, but now it also will drop the $7 fee - except it will require a notarized affidavit instead of a driver's mere word.

And CDOT will propose legislation next year to clarify the method for enforcing tolls, possibly to include legal authority to fine car poolers who travel under the toll gate instead of the car pool lane.

Solo on interstate

Got an EXpressToll transponder? Good. As a solo driver, you can join the car pools and buses using the seven-mile HOV lanes in the median of I- 25.

• The two-lane facility between U.S. 36 and 20th Street changes directions twice a day. In runs southbound from 5 to 10 a.m. and northbound from noon to 3 a.m. the next day. It closes for two hours twice a day for maintenance and to ensure no vehicles are out of traffic.

• Southbound in the morning: If you're on U.S. 36, enter the car-pool lane near Broadway at the point where the signs permit it; if you're on I-25, enter from the left lane just south of the I-270 exit ramp.

• Northbound in the afternoon: Enter from the gated ramp at 20th and Blake streets, or from the left lane of I-25 near 20th Street.

• All traffic can use both lanes for most of the way. But when approaching the toll-collecting gantry near 58th Avenue, traffic is separated. Solo drivers are directed to the east lane while car pools and buses are directed to the west.

• The toll is collected electronically when passing in the east lane under the gantry. Cheaters risk a $70 ticket.

• After passing the gantry, motorists once again can use either lane. Southbound traffic merges into the left lane of I-25 at 20th Street or enters downtown on 19th Street at Wynkoop. Northbound traffic merges onto I-25's left lane north of U.S. 36 or onto U.S. 36 headed toward Boulder.

flynnk@RockyMountainNews.com or 303-954-5247

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