HOT lanes pick up momentum, critics

Nearly five months after the $50 million-plus, taxpayer-funded project opened in Gwinnett County, drivers remain dubious and many questions remain unanswered.

The overall effect on commute times is hard to pinpoint. In some cases, commuters in the regular lanes sat in traffic longer since the HOT lanes opened; in other cases, their commute improved.

Tolls were supposed to bring in $3.3 million to $6.7 million in the first 11 months, but collections for the first four months total $758,000.

Thorough studies may not be in for several months, and preliminary data obtained by The Atlanta Journal-Constitution don’t lead to many clear conclusions.

But commuters and taxpayers have reached their own verdicts.

“Ridiculous,” “stupid,” and “greedy,” drivers told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution in dozens of interviews recently at gas stations and homes along the corridor.

“I think it’s another way to gouge the public,” said Tim New, a jewelry store owner in Norcross. “I’m not going to entertain getting a card. I’ll sit in traffic.”

But for the more than 10,000 drivers who use the HOT lane each weekday, it’s worth the money, and their numbers are growing.

“It’s awesome,” said Trey Phillips, a lawyer with offices in Lawrenceville. “I’m glad [other drivers] hate it. They can stay out of it — that’s why it’s moving.”

How the lanes have fared

The HOT lanes in Gwinnett County are seen as a pilot project for a sweeping toll plan for metro Atlanta.

So what’s happened since they opened?

For starters, the vast majority of the 250,000 daily drivers on I-85 stay in the regular lanes. For them, the project has been a mixed bag, with preliminary data unclear on how the HOT lanes have affected commute speeds in the regular lanes.

Since the HOT lanes opened, traffic has increased in the toll lanes. The state has issued more than 138,000 Peach Passes. On weekdays, HOT lane traffic nearly always exceeds 10,000 trips, and some days it has approached 17,000 trips.

But how much of a change does that make for the people who drive the interstate?

It’s hard to say.

The initial data show that after the project launched, traffic poured out of the former HOV lane onto the regular lanes, or off the interstate altogether.

By January, HOT lane use was still lower than it was when those lanes were used as HOV lanes.

Those old HOV lanes were restricted mainly to carpools with two or more people. The HOT lane allowed solo drivers to use the lane — for a price — but it forced two-person carpools to pay or leave.

Three-person carpools and transit vehicles still can ride free if they register.

State Road and Tollway Authority spokeswoman Malika Reed Wilkins emphasized that the HOT lane is still relatively new — and the state Department of Transportation cautioned that the data have a margin of error of 10 percentage points.

“We’re only four months in,” Wilkins said. “In a corridor that has 250,000 vehicles per day, the volumes we’re seeing are steadily recovering.”

The state intends to use the lessons learned on I-85 to plan a multibillion-dollar network of such lanes across metro Atlanta highways.

‘The rockiest start’

There were big bumps at the beginning.

Groups of commuters called the lanes elitist, and they decried the slowdown in the regular lanes as former HOV users piled in, adding to the congestion.

The national toll publication TollRoadsNews.com called the I-85 launch “mismanaged,” with “at least politically ... the rockiest start yet of any of the congestion pricing projects around the country.”

But the site’s editor, Peter Samuel, said management has been much better since then.

Gov. Nathan Deal intervened and temporarily lowered the variable toll rate, drawing in new customers. And the DOT added a new entrance point.

Now, traffic will have to increase fast to meet revenue expectations. In January alone, toll collections totaled $237,000, and February traffic is looking higher than last month.

“We are comfortable with the revenue thus far,” said Wilkins, who pointed out that the purpose of the lanes was never to make a profit.

Rather, the lanes were intended to create one space on the highway that is reliably mobile for anyone willing to pay and set up an account ahead of time. The toll price is charged electronically so no one has to stop, and the toll rises as traffic gets heavier.

But some grouse that the public was never given a say in the decision. Some commuters who stick to the regular lanes said their drives had permanently slowed, by anything from five to 25 minutes.

Others said that after the initial problems, their commutes are no longer any different.

“I sit in traffic just as much as I always have,” said Daniel Mittelman, a graphic designer who works in the Spaghetti Junction area. But as bad as it is, “it’s not worth it to me to pay.”

Some legislators have taken up the cause.

Democrats have introduced a bill in the Legislature, Senate Bill 347, to ban future HOT lanes unless the General Assembly votes for them.

But HOT lane user Nik Burdett would prefer the critics pipe down, fearing vocal protests might result in losing the option.

“It was kind of like, don’t take them away from me,” said Burdett, a vice president of sales at a distribution company, “because I can finally get home at a decent hour.”

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Toll prices

Source: SRTA

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Traffic

Results varied from place to place and time to time. This is a snapshot of afternoon 4-hour averages at Beaver Ruin Road in January.

Source: DOT

Note: 10 percent margin of error

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The data

Georgia DOT provided detailed commute data and averages at six points along the I-85 HOT lane, southbound in the morning and northbound in the afternoon. The data covered rush periods on weekdays, from 6 a.m. to 10 a.m. and from 3 p.m. to 7 p.m. Some holiday weeks were excised. The data has flaws, including a 10 percent margin of error, and Georgia Tech will produce a more thorough study later.