CARIBBEAN:Puerto Rico seeks ETC

Puerto Rico (PR) is not the sleepy little Caribbean backwater of many mainlanders’ imagination or 1950s memories. The island is about 150km x 50km (100mi x 30mi) which puts in about half as big again as DE and about 2/3 CT. While once it lost great swags of its brightest people to emigration, today it has a thriving manufacturing and tourist economy. Population is now approaching 4m and the rising standard of living supports 2.2m vehicles – a car ownership level that now exceeds the US average. The San Juan metro area alone will soon have 1m motor vehicles.

Robert Bain of the UK-based firm Steer Davies Gleave, traffic consultants to the PRHTA, says his review of the international statistics suggests Puerto Rico has “one of the highest levels of car ownership of any country in the world.”

So there is an enormous need for good roads. The island already has over 300km of motorway of which 234km (147mi) are toll roads operated by the PRHTA, with three more (32km) in construction. In addition the Teodoro Moscoso toll bridge linking the central part of the greater San Juan area to the airport was built by investors in 1995 under a concession. San Juan is also getting a slick modern metro rail system named Tren Urbano, mostly underground.

The three new toll roads under construction on the edges of the San Juan (SJ) area will open around the time electronic tolling is introduced.

Tolling seems to have a good future in Puerto Rico. The system is already a large and mature one, similar in revenue to those of major US systems in Houston TX or Orlando FL, and comparable with NJ-GSPkwy in volume. By most accounts the system is well managed. High levels of throughput (up to 1,000/hr) have been achieve at coin machine lanes by employing ‘ushers’ in rush hours who make change and do the coin throws for motorists.

Traffic grows between 3% and 4%/yr so there will probably be a need for innovatory measures to enhance capacity, manage traffic and extend the system.

North American frequency

PRHTA is specifying an ET system in the regular 900-928 MHz frequency used in North America but is open to either active or backscatter. The investor-built toll bridge to the airport already has some 8 Amtech electronic toll lanes and some 10k Amtech tags on issue so ET is already known on the island. PRHTA is expected to work with the bridge company to phase out their system, should Amtech systems not be selected for the island-wide deployment.

The RFP is likely to ask vendors to specify the availability and price of low-cost readers for ancillary functions such as parking and traffic monitoring in addition to the regular toll readers.

PRHTA presently has gates at all its toll lanes and few enforcement problems. It will have the option of staying with gates like New York City and Florida and having 10 to 20mph roll-through ET, with only moderate need for video enforcement. Or it could take the Chicago and Texas approach of dispensing with gates, allowing for higher speeds and throughput but with greater demands on video enforcement. Or it might decide to manage some transition.

PRHTA officials have visited Atlanta’s GA-400 to see a modern split plaza design in which highway speed tolling operates safely alongside regular toll collection. That model may be applicable in rebuilds or future plazas. No decisions on these details have yet been made.

The bilingual character of PR and need for signage in Spanish and English will pose a special challenge for introduction of ET and require topflight graphic design skills at the toll plazas and in advertising.

Competition could be strong since this is a big chunk of business in one of the few major toll venues in north America not committed to a vendor. (Contact Doris Rochette PRHTA 787 729 1540, Robert Bain sdgpr@caribe.net)