hot

The launch of managed toll lanes this week on I-85 northeast of Atlanta was so mismanaged that the state Governor intervened after three days and very publicly ordered changes.  For three nights TV, radio and the press in Atlanta reported the fiasco of noticeably worse congestion in the general purpose lanes alongside almost empty "Express" or toll managed lanes on the big highway northeast out of Atlanta, the first in a huge proposed network.

The Maricopa Association of Governments (MAG) in the Phoenix area is looking for consultants to examine the feasibility of toll concessions to fund toll-managed or HOT lanes in the Phoenix metro area.  This follows enabling legislation for public private partnerships.

Virginia secretary of transportation Sean Connaughton says I-66 is a "great candidate" for HOT/toll lanes, and he says the department has a team studying the concept. As soon as he was appointed secretary in the summer when the new Republican administration won office he directed the department to look at "HOT" or toll lanes, he says.

Regional government in the San Francisco Bay area and the associated public toll authority are now committed to an extensive network of tolled lanes - some 1300km or 800 miles of tolled lanes to be developed out of an existing and planned high occupancy vehicle (HOV) lane network at a capital cost of about $4.8b.

Branded "95 EXPRESS" a pair of toll express lanes started tolling 6am Friday Dec 5 northbound on I-95 between FL836 near downtown Miami and the Golden Glades Interchange, a distance of about 13km (8 miles). Southbound twin lanes will be tolling in about a year and the lanes more than doubled in length by late 2010.