The HOT lanes got too hot for political comfort Thursday, prompting Gov. Nathan Deal to slash tolls on the newly inaugurated I-85 high-occupancy toll lanes.
For most of the day, the governor's office said Deal would not act until the little-used and much-vilified lanes have operated for a full month. But a late-afternoon press release promised immediate action.
"In the short term, the toll rate will lower -- starting with Thursday afternoon's commute," the release said. The reduction will amount to more than 40 percent, Deal spokesman Brian Robinson told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
The HOT lanes, which began operating Monday, are available to two classes of drivers: those with a Peach Pass and at least three people in the vehicle (who pay nothing), and those with a Peach Pass and two or fewer people who are willing to pay a toll. (Motorcyclists and alternative-fuel vehicles also travel free.
The amount of the toll varies, depending on how congested the road is at that time. The original formula charged between 10 cents and 90 cents a mile.
Outraged commuters have complained long and loud that the new system is too costly, too complex and too confusing. In addition, critics said, traffic has actually worsened in the regular lanes, because so few people are using the HOT lanes. That was not unexpected, at least to state transportation officials, who had said as much in a study reported by the Atlanta Journal-Constitution last month.
Although the study's authors recognized the likelihood of increased congestion, they said most drivers would not notice it -- a theory that drew hoots of outrage from commuters.
Motorist Chris Hartwell captured their frustration a Facebook page, “I hate the I-85 HOT lanes in Gwinnett.” Thursday, before Deal's announcement, Hartwell wrote, “Today the news said that the I-85 back-up beyond the Mall of Georgia is now the new ‘norm’ for Gwinnett commuters! We all need to write to Gov. Deal and demand the HOT lanes be removed!!!”
Before Deal's action, the maximum that had actually been charged to travel the full 16 miles was $5.50; under the new pricing it will be $3.05, Robinson said. That's a 44.5 percent decrease; Robinson indicated that similar reductions would apply across the board.
In addition, the governor will press the State Road and Tollway Authority to expedite its efforts to create more points at which drivers can enter the southbound HOT lanes, his staff said. The AJC reported earlier that the state was investigating the lack of access points, an issue raised weeks ago by carpoolers and transit passengers who saw their old HOV entrances disappear.
Deal also pledged Thursday to ask the federal government for a waiver allowing two-person vehicles to use the lanes free. That request could run afoul of a legal requirement that the HOT lanes flow at 45 mph or better.
Tyler Duvall, a Bush administration official who worked on the project, said one impetus for it was that I-85’s HOV lane was already congested and not performing as it was supposed to. “The region has got to correct the congestion problem in the HOV lanes regardless of what we're doing here,” Duvall said.
The key objective is to get more people to use the HOT lanes, Robinson said. "We want to encourage volume. People still have sticker shock.”
If the strategy works, the pricing formula could be adjusted again to raise the cost, Robinson acknowledged.
“We’ll have to see what usage is,” he said. “Right now the price isn’t meeting what the market is."
Deal's action drew praise from frustrated commuters but raised eyebrows from one transportation expert who is an advocate of HOT lanes.
Brenda Daube, 50, commutes from Suwanee with her husband, Dan. She used the Peach Pass all this week, tallying the cost each day, which ranged from $4 to $5 one-way.
“It was eating me up that he and I had to budget this, that we’ve got to come up with this money every month, and we’re not sure how much it’s going to be,” she said.
Daube especially welcomed the possibility that a waiver might make the commute free for two-passenger carpools. “I would love it.”
Walter Biscardi, 45, who lives and works in Buford but travels frequently to Midtown, said the HOT lanes seem fundamentally unfair.
“Taxpayers paid to have those roads made in the first place, and now we’re charged just to drive in them? I don’t think that’s right,” he said.
But Bob Poole, director of transportation for the Reason Foundation and considered by many a founding father of HOT lanes, said confusion and grumbling among commuters is to be expected in early weeks.
“It’s typical for new transportation concepts like this, when first introduced, to have trouble,” he said. “People don’t quite understand what it is, they’re confused, there may be also a few learning experiences by the agency in fine tuning software and procedures. It’s hardly surprising in first week to have it not all go smoothly.”
Poole said he was surprised, however, that an elected official would intervene so early on in the project.
“I have never heard of anything like that, and I am really frankly shocked,” Poole said. “It seems overkill and [indicates] not really understanding that these things may have teething problems in early days.”
Staff writers Craig Schneider, Katie Leslie, Bo Emerson, David Ibata, Aaron Gould Sheinin and Ariel Hart contributed to this article.
About the Author
