This entry was posted on 12/6/2008 11:36 AM and is filed under uncategorized.
Managed lanes are a "HOT" trend in America and more and more states are "HOT" to implement it.
Certain stretches of highways such as
State Route 91 (a.k.a. "The 91 Freeway") in Orange County, California,
I-25 in Denver, Colorado, and
I-95 in Miami/Fort Lauderdale, Florida, already have operational High-Occupancy Toll (HOT) lanes.
According to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Georgia may be on this "HOT bandwagon" in the next few years.
On Tuesday, November 25th, the U.S. Department of Transportation had approved a $110,000,000 grant to Georgia for the purpose of converting 14 miles (22 km) of existing HOV lanes on I-85 from I-285 in DeKalb County to Old Peachtree Road in Gwinnett County to HOT lanes. Eventually, all Metro Atlanta HOV lanes could become HOT lanes.
Barring reversal of the grant by the incoming Obama administration (which is seen to be unlikely), the conversion could be completed by January, 2011.
Please click here to read the full article.
If the I-85 HOT lanes are implemented, it seems as though Georgia will charge variable "congestion-pricing" tolls would be for vehicles with only the driver ("solos") or vehicles containing fewer than 3 occupants (including driver). Vehicles with 3 or more occupants (including driver), plus transit buses, motorcycles, and alternative-fuel (AFV) vehicles would still drive free of charge.
(According to the
Florida "95 Express" website, school buses also ride free in their HOT lanes. Will Georgia also allow school buses to use its HOT lanes?)
As a driver with a Georgia "Cruise Card" sticker on my windshield, I see a potential problem with the system if I am traveling on these particular lanes and I do have 2 or more passengers in my vehicle. Once I pass under the electronic sticker/transponder detection units, I could still be charged a toll in such a scenario.
Another such scenario would involve regular passenger vehicles with 3 or more occupants (including driver), but with no "Cruise Card". If camera enforcement is used at the electronic detection points and it takes a photo of the vehicle's license plate, then will the owner be sent a violation notice and assessed a fine despite being a otherwise legal user of the HOT lane? Since the burden of proof would be on the defendant (vehicle's owner) in such a case, I also see a potentially thorny constitutional issue.
The occupancy requirements for HOV/HOT lanes are much easier to enforce if an actual law enforcement officer is monitoring the lanes. Without the officers physically being there, and the scenarios as I have presented, I envision potential problems and glitches in terms of toll collection and lane usage enforcement.
Furthermore, we now have situations where you've got "rich people's lanes" (for those "solos" and vehicles with one passenger) and "poor people's lanes" (for everyone else). Since both such lanes were paid for by taxpayer funds, this amounts to a form of "double taxation" for the HOT lanes. Florida's video on their "95 Express" lanes mentions that everyone (including those who do not use the HOT lanes) will benefit, but since this is a new concept, I believe that it will be several years before we really see the true results of the HOT lanes. I don't sound skeptical to you, do I?
Speaking of tolls, I purchased a Florida
SunPass transponder at a Publix in Lakeland and have activiated it for future usage. Since Florida now has unmanned on-ramp and off-ramp toll plazas, I thought it would be a handy device to use since Mary and I travel to Florida at least twice per year. SunPass now has a sticker similar to "Cruise Card", but since the transponder can be swapped between our 2 vehicles, I chose the transponder. Sadly, Georgia does not offer such an option, plus Georgia requires that you buy their stickers exclusively through the
State Road and Tollway Authority website. What stops Georgia from offering "Cruise Cards" via Publix, CVS, or other retailers such as Florida does with SunPass? Inquiring minds want to know.
Do you have experience using the HOT lanes elsewhere in America or in any other nations that have implemented similar systems? If so, then please feel free to post your thoughts (good, bad, or indifferent) to the comments section and thanks in advance for doing so.
That's it for now. Thanks for reading and please come back again.
