I-85 tolling project draws fire (Atlanta Business Chronicle)
The State Transportation Board voted Thursday to delay the planned conversion of an HOV lane on Interstate 85 to a high occupancy toll lane amid criticism of the proposed tolling technology.
Board members pulled the project from the list of projects due to be let next month after being informed that the electronic transponders that will charge solo drivers using the HOT lane during rush hours are incompatible with transponders already in use on Georgia 400.
The I-85 project is being funded with a $110 million federal grant aimed at testing the viability of “congestion pricing,” which uses electronic tolling technology to vary tolls according to the time of day and the number of occupants in a vehicle.
“It’s a demonstration project,” Gerald Ross, deputy commissioner of the Georgia Department of Transportation, told board members Thursday. “It comes with some unknowns. That’s why USDOT (the federal transportation department) provided the grant.”
But critics on the board questioned the state’s decision to accept the grant if it meant moving forward with incompatible tolling technology that will make it difficult to collect the I-85 toll from Georgia 400 commuters who already have transponders in their cars. The toll would apply to a 15-mile stretch of I-85 from Spaghetti Junction to Old Peachtree Road in Gwinnett County.
“You can call it a demonstration project if you want,” said board member David Doss of Rome. “I call it a waste of money.”
Ross agreed to work with the State Road and Tollway Authority (SRTA), the agency with direct jurisdiction over the project, to ensure that compatibility is built into the tolling technology after the initial demonstration phase. He said he would report back to the board next month on the issue.
SRTA awarded two contracts for the I-85 tolling project earlier this year.
The larger of the two contracts went to Texas-based Electronic Transaction Consultants Corp., while a smaller portion went to TransCore Inc. of Harrisburg, Pa.
Atlanta Business Chronicle – by Dave Williams Staff Writer
Read more: I-85 tolling project draws fire – Atlanta Business Chronicle
Thursday, May 20, 2010, 12:59pm EDT
