GA DOT Proposes Toll For I-85 HOV Lanes

This entry was posted on 5/4/2007 5:07 PM and is filed under uncategorized.

"Why's the rich man busy dancing while the poor man pays the band?" -- "Lord Have Mercy On The Working Man" by Travis Tritt.

According to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, the Georgia DOT is seeking to allow single occupancy vehicle drivers to use the I-85 High Occupancy Vehicle (HOV) lanes in Gwinnett County... but levy them a toll for doing so. GDOT also wants to increase the minimum occupancy requirement from 2 to 3, similar to what I have seen in the Washington, DC, metro area along I-95 and I-395. Please click here to read the article.

Frankly, I again fail to see where this will do much (if anything) to help our traffic problems here in the metro area. Furthermore, I do not like the idea that I would have to pay a toll to travel in a "special lane", which in prior blogs, I have called the "rich people's lane". I-85 was built as a "free" road with our tax money and not as a toll road to begin with. Either build a new toll road where everybody pays or build/enhance existing roads without establishing a virtual "caste system" on existing "free" roads. And as for toll roads, once the bond indebtedness is paid off, each and every toll plaza should be dismantled. For example, Virginia did it years ago on a previously-tolled stretch of I-95 between Richmond and Petersburg, and even Georgia eventually dropped tolls on the original Talmadge Bridge in Savannah, and most recently the Torres Causeway that links Brunswick and Saint Simons Island.

That's all I have for now. Thanks for visiting and reading, and please come back often.

        

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Comments

• 5/4/2007 6:37 PM Roaddog wrote:
  I agree with your opinion on the tolling of a previous untolled freeway. The only way I could advocate such a proposal is if they were to construct an independent hov roadway system of the Interstate 85 mainline. Tolling the left-hand lane of I-85 with just a painted median is not a good way to go, especially considering that drivers currently use it for free. Also an HOV-3 will preclude most drivers from using it. HOV-2 is sufficient enough. Look at I-66 and its HOV-3 restriction in Virginia and how hard it is to "clinch" it ;o)
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• 5/7/2007 9:42 AM BlackAcura wrote:
  Georgiaroadgeek says, "Frankly, I again fail to see where this will do much (if anything) to help our traffic problems here in the metro area. "
  
  It won't do anything to solve the traffic problems, however a managed lane will provide an option for those who need to get somewhere on time. For example, an important job interview or sales meeting, where the value of arriving punctually is far higher than the cost of using the lane.
  
  Roaddog says, "an HOV-3 will preclude most drivers from using it. HOV-2 is sufficient enough"
  
  Have you driven the connector lately? HOV 2+ is jammed during the PM Peak southbound and failing just like the general purpose lanes. This benefits no one.
  
  Georgiaroadgeek says "I-85 was built as a 'free' road with our tax money and not as a toll road to begin with. "
  
  So? It's still a free road. And the HOV is still free to HOVs. This is an attempt to fully utilize excess capacity in the HOV lane. In addition, this will benefit the riff-raff in the general purpose lanes because it frees up capacity in those lanes. Also, and surprisingly, such a scheme benefits transit riders. As the freeway moves more vehicles, capacity on adjacent local roads is freed up and bus service operates faster and with better schedule adherence.
  
  As politicians refuse to raise the gas tax, alternatives like this are the only way to address metro Atlanta's transportation problems. The money has to come from somewhere and with the recent increase in materials costs thanks to the Chinese and Indians, the shortfall between revenue provided by the gas tax and cost to build the needed transportation facilities is only going to increase.
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• 5/11/2007 10:27 AM Bryant wrote:
  Well, I don't like tolls period; but, in some cases, they are neccessary.
  
  To Black Acura: If someone needs to get to a job interview on time, they need to leave early enough to do so. Tolling the lane (HOV lane) is not going to do any good, because if they leave late, they'll be late. And sometimes it is hard to move from the HOV lane all the way right to exit. (I know that there are a handful of HOV-only exits, but still...)
  
  In my personal opinion, you make better time in the regular through lanes than the HOV desiginated lanes.
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• 5/11/2007 8:00 PM Anonymous wrote:
  I'm with BlackAcura. I've found the HOV lanes on the connector southbound PM are often SLOWER than the leftmost general lanes.
  
  And I think HOV-3 is the way to go. If the point is to keep extra cars off the road, there often are enough parents with a kid to fill them, and that's done nothing in terms of removing cars from the road... even with 3, you still have that issue, but not so much.
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