express lanes

2013-03-18: Since Cofiroute, the French toller pioneered toll express lanes on the 91 Freeway nearly 20 years in the northeast corner of Orange County California such HOT or toll managed lanes have achieved a great record of success. But even the best ideas can be misapplied or poorly implemented.

2012/11/26: Close to half the vehicles on the I-110 ExpressLanes in Los Angeles are toll paying after first two weeks operation, somewhat more than expected according to LA Metro project manager Stephanie Wiggins.

The Transurban/Fluor concessionaire project on 29 miles of I-95 in northern Virginia is into construction. Initial clearing of brush and small trees is reported in the far southern segment where there is a 9 mile extension planned. Much of the existing 2-lanes reversible HOV further north will be widened to 3 lanes and ramps and off-line bus stations or park-&-rides added.

Most of the work is in the median of I-95.

No news they say is good news. There's no news of problems three weeks after the start-up of Silicon Valley's first toll express lanes on state route 237 (CA237) and a stretch of I-880 - a project to eliminate a bottleneck at the interchange of the two expressways by allowing single occupant vehicles to buy into previously underused HOV lanes.

The Georgia I-85 toll express lanes (GA85XL) now in their eighth week of operation continue to attract more patronage, but tolls while growing, are still low per mile.  We've worked on seven full weeks of data. Average weekday traffic in the variably priced lanes is now 11,210 vs 4,170 in the first week.

Georgia I-85 Express Lanes (GA/I-85XL) traffic is growing strongly in the third week of operations without loss of travel time advantages as compared to the second week. Tuesday toll-paying traffic Oct 18 is reported at 9200 vs 5773 Tues Oct 11 and 3513 Tues Oct 4.

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.

Utah DOT is buying ISO 18000 6C sticker tags from Neology for $1.59 apiece, the lowest price we know of that a transponder has been sold in the US. A Utah official told us that FSTech/Sirit bid just a nickel more or $1.64. TransCore bid $3.50.

Atkinson Construction got their notice-to-proceed from Los Angeles Metro in January on detailed design of a toll Express Lanes project on the I-10 and the I-110 - two of the busiest highways in the LA metro area. Actual construction is due to begin mid-year for an opening of 25 miles, 41km of 2x2 toll lanes late 2012.

ACS, A Xerox Company, to Keep Los Angeles Drivers Moving with Electronic Toll Collection for New Express Lanes