Utah Legislature: Electronic tolling, HOV bill both roll forward

SALT LAKE CITY — Money is at the heart of two conflicting visions for the future of high-occupancy vehicle lanes along I-15.

The Utah Department of Transportation is proceeding with electronic tolling, while a state senator is moving ahead with a bill to change the way the lanes operate.

On Wednesday morning, the Utah Transportation Commission approved new charges for drivers who are not in carpools or on motorcycles. With the electronic tolling system, expected to go live in the fall, drivers will be charged 25 cents to $1 in each of four HOV "zones" per trip.

Transponders in cars will communicate with antennas along the freeway and charge the drivers. Currently, drivers pay $50 a month for a sticker allowing unlimited use of HOV lanes.

Meanwhile, Sen. Karen Morgan, D-Cottonwood Heights, is proceeding with an amended version of her bill, SB38. The original bill opened the HOV lanes to all traffic during non-peak hours and allowed drivers to enter and exit the lanes where they please. The amended bill drops the language that allows all traffic during non-peak hours.

Morgan amended her bill in an attempt to eliminate the $2.3 million in costs associated with it. However, the Utah Department of Transportation, which Morgan says opposes her bill, has put an estimated price tag of $8.2 million to the amended version of her bill.

The Legislature is scrutinizing all bills that cost the state more than $10,000, because of the recession and a revenue shortfall that could be nearly $1 billion between fiscal years 2008 and 2010.

UDOT officials contend Morgan's bill will interfere with the electronic tolling system that has been planned for years. But UDOT is not stonewalling her bill, UDOT spokesman Adan Carrillo said.

"Even before she came up with her proposed bill, we were already making this project a reality," Carrillo said. "It was already happening. So now we're just analyzing what it would take us to do what she's proposing."

UDOT would have to spend $1 million to re-stripe the lanes to allow drivers to move in and out of them as they please, Carrillo said. Currently, the lanes are double-striped, except in certain designated entrance and exit points.

UDOT is recommending the pavement be ground down and repainted to conform to the bill, if it becomes law. There are 40 miles of lane northbound and 40 southbound. There is an option to cover the current lanes with black paint and paint white striping over the black, but paint on paint tends to fade, Carrillo said.

The remaining $7 million is the cost to cancel electronic tolling contracts, which UDOT already has awarded.

"We would most likely have to pay for the half of the components they've ordered," Carrillo said. "Plus, we'd have to pay for the work they've performed."

The entire electronic tolling project will cost $14 million, which Morgan has said is too expensive for a time of depressed revenue.

"It's going to remain very dangerous" if drivers cannot enter and exit the lanes where they please, she said. "It's going to be unused. People don't want to get into the lane when they're unsure of where they can get out of the lane."

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