Express Lane Expansion Proposal Moves Forward

October 27, 2011 UPDATE

MTC's plan to add 290 miles to the Bay Area's system of high-occupancy toll (HOT) lanes — known as Express Lanes — took a major step forward today, when the California Transportation Commission (CTC) determined that the plan meets the eligibility requirements for the implementation and operation of HOT lanes established by state statute. Meeting in Sacramento, the CTC affirmed the plan's eligibility by a vote of 6 to 1. (See below for details on the Express Lane plan.) A public hearing on MTC's application for eligibility was held in conjunction with the CTC's October 27 meeting, and a second public hearing will be held during the CTC's next meeting, to be held in Riverside on December 14 and 15. In the coming months, MTC will work with its regional Express Lane partners (including Caltrans and county-level congestion management agencies) to devise and implement a public outreach process in the Bay Area, identify and sequence Express Lane projects in the authorized highway corridors, and perform project engineering and operation analyses.

For more information, contact MTC's Lisa Klein:lklein@bayareametro.gov

September 28, 2011

The MTC commission today voted to seek authorization from the California Transportation Commission (CTC) to develop and operate an expanded Express Lane network in the Bay Area, largely through the eastern side of the region. The proposal would allow the region to add as many as 290 directional miles to the 280 miles of Express Lanes already constructed or authorized in the region, bringing the total potential coverage to 570 miles of interconnected Express Lanes across the Bay Area. However, any expansion of the Express Lane network would be subjected to further financial, operational and environmental analysis as well as extensive public involvement before any funding commitments would be made or construction would begin.

Expanding the network of Express Lanes would deliver a one-two punch to traffic congestion by closing gaps in the region’s high-occupancy vehicle lane network — thereby benefiting both carpoolers/vanpoolers and express bus riders — while also improving mobility for solo drivers willing to pay a toll.

As is the case with the region’s first Express Lane, now operating along the Sunol Grade on southbound Interstate 680 (Alameda and Contra Costa counties), solo motorists would be able to choose to buy their way into the Express Lanes in order to bypass traffic bottlenecks, while carpools and vanpools would be able to use the lanes free of charge. The tolls will vary according to the level of congestion: the worse the congestion, the higher the price to bypass the traffic, a concept known as “value pricing.”

The optional payments have been characterized as a form of congestion “insurance” that will allow motorists to get to their destinations on time when it really matters. Drivers would pay electronically via FasTrak® transponders attached to their windshields.

An MTC staff analysis estimates that the expanded network would be financially feasible with a per-mile toll rate ranging from 14 cents to $1 in 2020. The current average peak-period toll on the I-680 Express Lane is $3 for the 14-mile length, or 21 cents per mile. The Express Lanes hold out the best hope for closing gaps in the region’s existing carpool-lane network, and are a cost-effective way of increasing travel time savings for carpools and buses that ply the lanes.

The planned additions to the region’s Express Lane system would create a north-south backbone network in the East Bay that would stretch from Milpitas in northern Santa Clara County to the northern border of Solano County, and would encompass Interstate 80 in Alameda, Contra Costa and Solano counties, Interstate 680 in Solano and Contra Costa counties, and Interstate 880 in Alameda County, along with the approaches to the Dumbarton and San Mateo-Hayward bridges.

Of the 290-mile expansion, 150 miles would involve converting existing diamond lanes, or high-occupancy vehicle (HOV) lanes, to Express Lanes, and 120 miles would involve widening freeways to create new HOV/Express Lanes in both directions. The remaining 20 miles involve a stretch of Interstate 880 through Oakland that cannot physically accommodate Express Lanes per se, but that is targeted for a variety of advanced operational strategies to smooth traffic flows.

In addition to the year-old Interstate 680 southbound Sunol Grade Express Lane, the region is building an Express Lane along eastbound Interstate 580 in eastern Alameda County. Express Lanes are also coming to the westbound direction of Interstate 580, and studies are under way for adding an Express Lane in the northbound direction of the I-680 Sunol Grade. And Santa Clara County has state authorization for Express Lanes along Highway 101 going the complete length of the county, along with Route 85 and Highway 237. Under MTC’s proposal submitted to the CTC, these routes already operating or in the pipeline would be operated in tandem with the expansion routes to create a seamless, integrated network.

The expanded Express Lane network could be completed as early as 2030. While the Express Lane backbone network approved in concept today is smaller than what was envisioned in the Transportation 2035 Plan adopted by MTC in 2009, it nonetheless would constitute a major remaking of the region’s freeway system.

The CTC is expected to consider MTC’s application at its meeting on October 26-27, 2011. 

– Brenda Kahn