HOV tolls to increase during rush hour

Driving in the HOV lane will cost more during rush hour with new technology on I-15 that will go into effect next summer.

The technology will enable "electronic tolling" — fees charged to drivers using the high-occupancy vehicle lanes, but not those who are on motorcycles or in carpools.The technology uses electronic radio frequency identification.

About 20 feet above the lanes will be antenna boxes, about the size of an 8.5X11-inch book. The antennas will send radio signals to credit-card sized transponders mounted to vehicle windshields, said David Kinnecom, UDOT traffic management engineer.

Before a driver enters an HOV lane, there will be signs announcing how much they'll be charged for the portion of HOV lane they choose. There will be four HOV portions, or zones: between American Fork and 14600 South; between 14600 South and 7200 South; between 7200 South and Beck Street; and between Farmington and Layton, Kinnecom said.

The costs of each zone will depend on traffic on the zone.

"It would be set dynamically and what that would mean is it would be sensitive to the actual speed in the Express Lane and the volume of traffic," Kinnecom said. "And the idea would be to preserve an acceptable speed in the Express Lane. But as traffic got more dense, that rate would go up so as to discourage excessive use."

"That's the first priority and the goal is to preserve an acceptable speed in the carpool or Express Lane," Kinnecom said. "But the carpools don't completely use the capacity of that lane. There is some unused capacity during the rush hour. We can improve the overall efficiency of I-15 if some of the people who are in the general lanes are able to shift into the Express Lane."

For the past two years, drivers who are not in carpools or on motorcycles have paid UDOT $50 a month to use HOV lanes. The state sends them a decal for their rear windows. About 1,600 drivers particpate.

The new system will cost about $16 million, according to TransCore, the company that was awarded the contract to build and maintain it for nine years. The company is based in Harrisburg, Pa., and is part of Roper Industries Inc.

TransCore has installed 7,400 electronic tolling systems worldwide, company spokeswoman Barbara Catlin said, and has worked with UDOT for 14 years in traffic management.

TransCore has assembled a team to install the technology, with Gerber Construction, Sorenson Companies, HDR Engineering and Chatfield Construction Co. Technology installation will begin in mid-December. The system will go live August 2010, said Kinnecom, the UDOT engineer.

The technology may be pricey, but Kinnecom said that the federal highway legislation Congress regularly reauthorizes to provide states freeway money has requirements if states allow vehicles that are not carpools or motorcycles in HOV lanes. The legislation states a "program must be established to address enrollment and participation, automatic toll collection is required, procedures must be established for variable pricing and enforcement."

Exact tolls will be determined by the Utah Transportation Commission, a governing body over UDOT. Will it cost more than the current $50?

"It's probably going to be pretty close," Kinnecom said. "The idea is not to make money. The toll is really a way to manage the capacity of that lane. So we do not intend to collect more money than we put back into it. Any money that comes from the express lane would go back into the maintenance and operation of I-15."