Toll lanes could return to the turnpike.
After fighting the prospect of new toll lanes on U.S. 36 for years, local officials in the corridor have done an about-face, applying for up to $187 million in federal funds to build HOT lanes between Boulder and Interstate 25.
HOT lanes, which stands for high-occupancy toll, were considered as one way to relieve congestion on U.S. 36 late last year, but local officials panned the idea as unworkable, claiming concrete barriers that would separate the new lanes from existing lanes would limit access.
They had a change of heart about HOT lanes about a month ago when Tyler Duvall, a U.S. Transportation Department assistant secretary, told a panel in Denver that the federal government had about $1 billion in funding for congestion-relief projects that combine tolling, transit, technology and telework options.
Five mayors from the U.S. 36 corridor and their staffers were at the event and asked, “Why aren’t we applying” for the federal money, said Broomfield transportation manager Debra Baskett.
The U.S. 36 Mayors and Commissioners Coalition – Westminster, Broomfield, Louisville, Superior, Boulder and Denver – submitted an application to the federal government Monday that proposes construction of one HOT lane in each direction between Interstate 25 and Foothills Parkway in Boulder for a total cost of $234 million.
HOT lanes allow buses and carpools to travel free while charging single-occupant vehicles a toll to use the same express lanes.
Construction on the proposed HOT lanes could begin by 2009 and would be less expensive than originally considered because they would not have barrier-separated lanes that require an expensive collection of on- and off-ramps.
They would be separated from existing lanes merely by striping, Baskett said.
The government requires that local officials come up with 20 percent of the project cost, said Peggy Catlin, head of the Colorado Tolling Enterprise, which would operate the HOT lanes.
Some of the needed local funds could come from RTD’s FasTracks budget, which has money allocated for bus rapid transit in the U.S. 36 corridor, Catlin said. The Colorado Department of Transportation also has some money in its long-range plan for highway improvements there, she added.
The tolling enterprise already operates about 7 miles of HOT lanes on I-25 between Coors Field and U.S. 36, with a short additional leg of the express lanes running up U.S. 36 to Pecos Street.
The U.S. 36 coalition is competing with other cities, including Atlanta, Minneapolis, Tucson and New York City, for the federal money, Baskett said.
The Transportation Department is expected to select winners by August.
Staff writer Jeffrey Leib can be reached at 303-954-1645 or jleib@denverpost.com.
