TWIN CITIES I-394:HOT in Minnesota

The Minnesota Department of Transp is the latest agency to propose conversion of HOV lanes to HOT. Adeel Lari, the state’s official in charge of road pricing issues, told us that the department wants to allow toll buy-in on I-394 HOV lanes. These consist of 4km of barriered reversible lanes at the downtown end of the road and 11km of concurrent marked lanes out to Wayzata. This is the major commuting route into the central city area for residents of the western suburbs.

Lari says that the I-394 HOV lanes are regarded as a success as HOV: “They are successful. They carry a lot of people. But they do have significant surplus capacity. We are confident we can maintain the incentive to HOV while improving overall traffic flows by a well managed toll buy-in to the HOV lanes. So we have formally written to the Feds asking them for their support for this.”

Minnesota could be the third state to introduce HOT lanes, after California and Texas. Lari said the department favors some kind of road pricing or tolls as the best way to handle problems of peak hour congestion, and for financing new highway projects. Following the veto of toll highway 212 by just one of several communities — the others all favored it — Lari has been working within the government to develop a comprehensive policy on the pricing and financing of new projects. The community of Eden Prairie that blocked Highway 212 complained that they were being singled out to pay tolls and that other communities might get new toll-free roads.

“We have to develop a policy framework of guidance so that communities do not feel they are being singled out for some special impost,” says Lari. With such a general policy in place individual communities may lose the power they have in the present law to block larger toll projects. He’s hoping to release a new draft policy on toll projects by the fall.

The toll buy-in on the I-394 HOT lanes can be seen as another way of gradually introducing people to road pricing, he says. (Contact Adeel Lari 612 282 6148)