The three-day series that debuted in last Sunday’s Denver Post should puncture the pretentions of think tanks that are promoting toll roads as a panacea that can banish Colorado’s traffic congestion at no cost to taxpayers.
Chuck Plunkett and Jeffrey Leib looked at 23 new turnpikes nationwide and discovered that most are failing to meet revenue projections to justify their costs. That fact strongly suggests investors will be wary of funding future proposals that rely on tolls alone to pay back their total construction and maintenance costs.
At the same time, Colorado’s transportation backlog is so great that toll roads clearly need to play at least a limited role in easing our traffic snarls. That means we need to take a closer look at projects that stretch taxpayer dollars by blending in some tolls alongside such traditional revenue sources as the motor fuel tax.
Fortunately, the state already has models for such blended financing.The E-470 expressway around the eastern half of metro Denver is underwritten by a $10 surcharge on vehicle registrations within the district it serves as well as its toll receipts.
And starting last Friday, the state has converted a former high occupancy vehicle (HOV) lane on north I-25 to a high occupancy-toll (HOT) project that will allow single drivers to pay to join the buses and car pools that now use the lanes for free.
The seven-mile stretch from Coors Field to U.S. 36 now carries just 1,200 vehicles at peak hours when it could easily handle 2,000. As an HOT lane, it is expected to attract another 500 drivers an hour at a fee ranging from $.50 to $3.25. That will bring CDOT up to $1 million a year to help maintain the project while easing congestion in the adjacent free lanes.
A similar blend of tolls and taxes may hold the answer to building the bus rapid transit lanes along U.S. 36 to Boulder called for in the FasTracks plan approved by voters in 2004.
Fastracks provided money for bus stations and access ramps along U.S. 36 but only about $60 million toward the cost of the highway itself – which could cost up to $1 billion. CDOT only anticipates having about $200 million for U.S. 36 by 2030. Thus, allowing single drivers to use the new express lanes by paying a toll could provide the extra revenue necessary to build a project unlikely to be financed by RTD and CDOT alone.
The Plunkett/Leib series brought a wealth of information to a topic too often oversimplified by politicians. As a result, future tolling projects should be reviewed in a more realistic light.
