What to know as I-85 HOT lane opens

By Ariel Hart

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

An I-85 toll lane user's guide

Register. Every vehicle that sets a wheel in the toll lane must have a Peach Pass, whether paying the toll or not.

No cash. All tolls are electronic.

Tolled: solo drivers and two-person car pools

Free: car pools of three people or more, transit vehicles, motorcycles, cars with alternative fuel license plates, mass transit

Prohibited: trucks with more than six wheels and/or two axles

To switch from toll-paying to free, or vice versa: You must reset your Peach Pass account by phone or computer at least 15 minutes before you enter the lane. If your switching is regular, you can pre-set certain days or times as paying or nonpaying.

How much: The toll ranges from 10 cents a mile to 90 cents a mile, rising with congestion. The State Road and Tollway Authority can go over 90 cents a mile in special cases.

Don’t: cross the double solid lines. Enter or exit only at the dashed lines.

Fines: A violation can reap both a $25 SRTA fine, which happens electronically and is mailed to the driver, and a police fine of up to $150 from troopers who are patrolling the corridor.

For more information and to obtain a Peach Pass, go to www.peachpass.com.

By the numbers

$60 million: the budget for the road project, coming from:

• $12.5 million: the federal grant that kick-started the road project
• $5.6 million: Georgia’s federal road funds
• $41.9 million: state funds

The big picture

High tech rules: The congestion is monitored by microwave and laser sensors, and transmitted to computers that determine what the toll should be.

Other lanes: Preliminary work is under way for optional toll lanes on I-75 and I-575 in Cobb and Cherokee counties; and on I-75 through Henry County, scheduled to open by 2016.  A metrowide network is planned.

Toll policy: Three-person car pools will ride free on I-85; not on I-75/I-575. Decision not yet made on I-75 in Henry County.

A national trend

Like I-85 in Gwinnett, these optional toll lanes charge an automated variable toll fee, rising and falling with congestion measured constantly by computers. Most of them started charging tolls in the past four years:

• I-15 in San Diego
• I-394 and I-35W in Minneapolis
• Wash. 167 in Seattle
• I-95 in Miami
• I-680 in San Francisco Bay Area
• I-15 in Salt Lake City

Other projects in California, Texas and Denver charge electronic tolls that vary by a pre-set time of day.

Sources: State Road and Tollway Authority, Georgia Department of Transportation