Category Archives: Tolls

HOT Lanes in Northern Virginia

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The Virginia Department of Transportation (VDOT) has introduced HOT Lanes or High Occupancy Toll Lanes on the I-495 Capital Beltway corridor just south of Washington D.C.  Motorists who are willing to pay a fee would be able to drive in these lanes.  This would only occur if there is traffic in the regular lanes otherwise it would defeat the purpose of them.  The toll rates will vary depending on the hour and level of congestion.  If congestion is high on the regular lanes, the toll would be higher and vice versa.  Vehicles with three or more people can drive for free in these lanes no matter the time or level of congestion.

EZ Pass Flex Transponder

These HOT/HOV lanes will collect tolls using high speed toll collection methods where motorists would not have to stop to pay.  You must have an EZ-Pass transponder if you are going to pay.  However, this is not your typical transponder.  The picture on the right shows an EZ-Pass Flex transponder that must be used for these lanes where you would flick a switch between HOV status where you would pay nothing, and regular status if you have less than three persons in your vehicle and pay a toll.

This is an interesting concept that VDOT is implementing.  VDOT is widening their road by making drivers pay a toll for it.  This is actually indirectly creating a socio-economic gap where people who can afford and willing to pay can only take it.  Secondly, I believe it is based on the honor system because I could not find any information on what is stopping persons from simply switching to HOV mode when they have less than three people in the vehicle.  I feel that is a very large loophole in the system.  However, this system does encourage car pooling significantly which would reduce congestion.

Should we have a system like this across the country where congestion is prevalent.  Should motorists pay that extra fee?  Is it worth cementing car use more in our society to widen roads and encourage car pooling or should we just leave the roads the way they are?  Should VDOT have built bus dedicated lanes only or something else?

(https://www.495expresslanes.com)

Increasing Speed Limits in Texas

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A new toll road is slated to open this November in Texas to relieve the congestion on the I-35 corridor between Austin and San Antonio.  The speed limit on that road will be 85mph which is now the highest in the country.  It was formally 80mph until Governor Rick Perry of Texas signed a bill to raise the speed limit.  Many drivers like this development because they can now reach their destination faster.

However, are we thinking more about drivers’ convenience rather than safety?  There is clear research that states as speeds increase, fatalities increase.  A 2009 report in the American Journal of Public Health studied traffic fatalities in the U.S. from 1995 to 2005 and found that more than 12,500 deaths were attributable to increases in speed limits on all kinds of roads.

So what is the ideal speed limit then? If we decrease it, there are less fatalities and more driver frustration.  If we increase it, it is the opposite.  I am fine with the speed limit increase.  As a driver I feel that speed limits are lower than what they should be.  If a road is designed to do 85mph, then why not let drivers drive at that speed?

(http://www.huffingtonpost.com/huff-wires/20120906/us-texas-speed-limit/)