Motorists who travel the I-25 Express lanes using an EXpressToll transponder will pay about 25 percent less than those who do not have a transponder beginning March 1, Stacey Stegman, of the Colorado Department of Transportation said today.
Motorcycles and vehicles with more than one occupant who use the lane marked “HOV” will continue to travel free of charge.
However, solo drivers traveling in the lane marked “toll” will pay a surcharge if they don’t have an EXpressToll account and instead rely on the License Plate Toll payment system.
Stegman said the surcharge is to compensate for the cost of billing the solo drivers who don’t have an EXpress Toll account.
The License Plate Toll Payment system takes a photo of a vehicle’s license plates and sends a statement to the vehicle owner’s address on file with the Department of Motor Vehicles.
Prior to March 1, solo drivers using the License Plate Toll payment system paid the same rate as those having an EXpressToll Account, said Stegman.
The I-25 HOV/Express lanes opened to solo drivers choosing to pay a toll in 2006.
Previously, the lanes only allowed high occupancy vehicles.
The lanes connect downtown Denver to US 36 — a stretch of seven miles — and provide motorists with the choice of car pooling and using the HOV lanes at no charge or driving alone and paying a toll to avoid more congested traffic in the adjacent lanes of I-25.
Those choosing not to pay a toll can continue traveling the “free” lanes of I-25.
Officials said it easy to sign up for an EXpressToll account and said there is no charge for a transponder. An individual with an EXpresssToll account pre-deposits tolls in the account and the tolls are automatically deducted.
To sign up for an EXpress Toll account go to .
Howard Pankratz: 303-954-1939 or hpankratz@denverpost.com
