HOT lanes projects shelved MD, CO

HOT lanes projects in Maryland and Colorado have been “shelved.” And by shelved they mean stored on the shelf, with no action planned for the time being but ready to be dusted off later. In Colorado the I-25/US-36 HOT lanes proposal was proven financially feasible, but it fell foul of the transit lobby. The HOV lanes slated for toll buy-in received some $71m of federal monies via the Federal Transit Administration (FTA) and FTA has been adamant that they cannot be used by single occupant vehicles (SOVs) even if they pay a toll and are managed so as not to be to the detriment of the buses and carpools. So a ‘value pricing’ project sponsored by one USDOT agency (FHWA) got skewered by another USDOT agency (FTA.)

Maryland’s variable pricing program has also been put on hold. This followed a small outburst of criticism of the HOT lanes proposal for I-270 as constituting tolls on a free-way. The whole program was mandated by the legislature but state highway admin officials have never been enthusiastic about it.

In both states there is something of a legal quandry since there is an outstanding legislative requirement to do pricing. In Colorado legislation requires an RFP for private sector involvement in a pricing project to be issued by July 1. I-25/US-36 is the only project that was being readied for an RFP. Colorado DOT has transferred its focus to C-470 a belt route southwest of the city. Working with local cities and counties it plans a $625k study of adding HOT lanes to this crowded 2x2-lane highway, but this would have a tough job getting results by July 2002, let alone this year.

In Maryland too the variable pricing project was legislated, but there was no deadline.