E-470 officials are considering increasing tolls Jan. 1 at four of the road’s main plazas to $2, and to $1.75 at a fifth.
The proposed 25-cent increase per plaza was presented as one toll-hike option to a special meeting of E-470’s board of directors Thursday.
If the increase is approved by directors, it would cost $9.75 to travel the 47-mile length of the toll highway, which forms an arc around the eastern rim of the metro area. Currently, the cost is $8.50.
The proposed increase also would add 25 cents to what motorists pay at five exit-ramp plazas where the toll now is 75 cents.
There would be no increase at about 10 other exit ramps where the toll is 50 cents, according to the plan.
E-470 needs a toll increase in part because debt payments on the highway are scheduled to increase 24 percent next year and the toll authority also needs to maintain adequate reserves for maintenance and future widening of the road, said John McCuskey, E-470’s deputy executive director and head of finance.
One board member questioned whether higher tolls might cause a significant drop in traffic in a period of especially high gas prices.
“Toll increases in the future will impact future traffic growth,” said Edward Regan III, senior vice president of Wilbur Smith Associates, the consulting firm that presented details of a new traffic and revenue study to E-470 directors Thursday.
But toll increases may only slow traffic growth, not stop it, Regan added, and slower growth will be more than offset by the additional revenue gained from toll hikes.
The study by Regan’s firm also offered E-470 directors a variety of alternatives to a flat, across- the-board toll increase.
One would boost the toll paid by holders of electronic transponders by 25 cents but increase the cash toll by 50 cents.
An advantage of this approach, officials said, would be to push more E-470 users to acquire transponders, which allow motorists to pass through toll plazas without slowing.
Travelers with transponders have tolls taken out automatically from a prepaid account. About two-thirds of E-470’s toll transactions are recorded with the devices.
Transponder-paid tolls are cheaper for E-470 to process than cash tolls.
Two other proposals would raise tolls for travelers paying either with cash or by transponder during morning and evening rush hours, but transponder users would not have to pay the toll increase in off-peak hours.
One of the proposals would add 25 cents to tolls for both cash and transponder users at peak travel times.
The other suggests a 50-cent peak-time toll hike for cash payers and a 25-cent increase during peak hours for transponder users.
E-470 officials also discussed the possibility of having toll- road users buy their own transponders instead of the current system that supplies them to motorists free.
The E-470 board is expected to select one of the 2006 toll-hike alternatives this year. An increase has long been planned for next year.
The last E-470 toll increase was in 2003.
Staff writer Jeffrey Leib can be reached at 303-820-1645 or jleib@denverpost.com.
