There’s no doubt that Georgia’s first experience with high-occupancy toll lanes has caused frustration.
For starters, HOT lanes are intended to ease pressures on the all-access lanes, and if you’ve been on I-85 north of Atlanta over the last two weeks, you know that these express lanes have looked something like an asphalt desert. Secondly, I am not naturally inclined to the concept of installing a toll on any lane for which taxpayers have already paid.
While there is broad recognition that future transportation infrastructure will need to include assets that pay for themselves, I am committed to the principle that future HOT lanes, or any toll lanes for that matter, will be new lanes that add capacity.
I have also inherited responsibility for a project on which taxpayers have already spent $60 million. I feel this obligates us to a good faith effort to make this work, and I have taken the following actions to increase volume:
● Requested that the carpooling requirement be reduced from three passengers to two. ● Asked for modifications to create additional entry and exit points. ● Authorized a revision of the pricing formula to reduce HOT lane usage costs.
Those types of changes are not uncommon in the implementation of a new technology such as this. In other locations where HOT lanes and market-based congestion pricing are now an effective component of the overall transportation strategy, there was an initial adjustment period.
To ensure maximum utilization of HOT lanes, we have to discover optimal pricing levels and provide time for the initial uncertainty of a new model to give way to better understanding and increased usage. Commuters are nervous about pricing, and seeing firsthand what it costs to use HOT lanes over the first few weeks is the only thing that can fully allay their concerns.
It is easy to pick out unpleasant facets of this project, but we must also acknowledge the wider context that has all of us looking for ways to cut the gridlock. In the decade between 2000 and 2010, our state added 1.5 million residents, and Georgians riding our roads will be the first to tell you that our infrastructure hasn’t kept pace.
Because we need new capacity to position Georgia for future growth, it is imperative that we make the needed adjustments to ensure that this project works for Georgians, in turn, positioning us to build out new lanes in the future that will pay for themselves.
So, while I share the frustration of commuters regarding our early experience with HOT lanes, we are all frustrated when we miss a business appointment or a child’s baseball game because roads are jammed. I am focused on reducing congestion in order to get Georgians moving.
Nathan Deal is Georgia’s governor.
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