Drivers on the automated toll lanes on I-85 and Ga. 400 will be able to use both the Cruise Card and the Peach Pass from the I-85 project's outset, following public outcry last year at the possibility they would need a different toll card for each road at first.
Gov. Nathan Deal, who is now head of the State Road and Tollway Authority’s board, called it “a huge improvement” that would help spur public acceptance of the 15-mile express lane toll project on I-85, scheduled to open in August. “I think the fact that you worked that out is huge,” he told SRTA's director.
To use the express lane, which is being installed on the I-85 HOV lane in Gwinnett and DeKalb counties, drivers will have to sign up for a toll account and put an electronic card in their window for the toll sensor to read as they drive through. Even drivers who are exempt from the toll -- car pools with three or more occupants, motorcyclists, vehicles with alternative fuel license plates -- will have to register and use a nonpaying toll card, or risk being pulled over.
Over the next few months, Ga. 400 Cruise Card accounts will be renamed Peach Pass accounts, and the Ga. 400 Cruise Card lanes will eventually become Peach Pass lanes. Though Ga. 400 drivers don't have to switch out the hardware and get a physical Peach Pass, they can do so for free if they want, according to SRTA spokeswoman Malika Reed Wilkins.
A year ago, a SRTA official told the state Transportation Board that the two different systems would require different toll accounts and toll cards at first, if the Ga. 400 toll were still in operation when the I-85 toll opened. The separate system was cheaper, she said, stressing that nothing would prevent the state from connecting the two technologies later, for a price. She said the state intended to have one seamless system eventually.
"One of the driving factors was price; the goal was to be economical, and then address interoperability," said the official, Terri Slack, who was then the authority’s director of strategic business development.
At the time, the future of the Ga. 400 toll was in question. Since then, the state has decided to extend it to 2020 rather than shutting it down in 2011 as scheduled.
Although SRTA had discussed the technology options with the Department of Transportation before making its deal, SRTA director Gena Evans said, some DOT board members at the meeting said they were taken aback, the story made headlines, and public reaction was cool.
However, while that meeting sped up the schedule, Reed Wilkins said Thursday, that's not why SRTA is making the systems compatible. "It's always been on our radar," she said. "That did help speed up the time frame as far as having the some concrete options on the table."
Brandon Beach, who represents part of Ga. 400 on the DOT board, said Thursday he was glad to see it resolved.
“Anything we do we should make it as seamless as possible,” Beach said. “When we do that, it’s just a much better product, much better customer service, and a much happier citizen out there.”
The Ga. 400 Cruise Card transponders cost $10 each, according to SRTA, but the I-85 transponders cost the state $1.59 each. The original I-85 tolling technology cost $1.16 million. Adding the compatibility will cost about $593,000, according to SRTA.
The idea behind the I-85 toll lane is not to make money, but to kick-start a system of variable toll lanes in metro Atlanta. In such lanes, the price of the toll fee rises along with congestion in the main lanes, in order to keep the toll traffic free-flowing. Two-person car pools would have to pay.
About the Author
