VPP Projects Involving Tolls
Category: Priced Lanes
Sub-Category: High-Occupancy Toll (HOT) Lanes

Project - CALIFORNIA: I-15 Managed Lanes in San Diego

The I-15 HOT lanes (described in the previous section on "CALIFORNIA: HOT Lanes on I-15 in San Diego") are being extended to create a 20-mile "Managed Lanes" facility in the median of Interstate 15 (I-15) between State Route 163 and State Route 78. When completed, there will be a four-lane facility in the median with a moveable barrier, multiple access points from the regular highway lanes, and direct access ramps for buses from five transit centers. A high frequency bus rapid transit (BRT) system is under development and will replace the existing express buses that serve the corridor. Caltrans is constructing the managed lanes using the design sequencing method of contracting. The first 8-mile middle segment of the project, or Stage 1, was completed last quarter. This segment, in combination with the original 8-mile reversible section, increases the facility to 16-miles of HOT lanes. Latter stages will include four additional miles of new Managed Lanes by 2011, and the widening of the original 8-mile reversible section by 2012. When complete, the new state-of-the-art system will collect tolls from over 30 locations covering 84 "tolled lanes". Pre-Implementation Study Seven pricing alternatives were considered by SANDAG. A preferred pricing alternative was selected in 2003 which calls for dynamic tolling through a skewed, per-mile rate. The distance-based fares will fluctuate based on the value of travel time saved between the managed lanes and adjacent general purpose lanes, and from the level of congestion in the managed lanes. The toll system will read vehicles upon entry and exit to calculate the toll rate. The I-15 Managed Lanes Value Pricing Planning Study was completed in 2002 and project deliverables are available at: http://www.sandag.org/index.asp?projectid=34&fuseaction=projects.detail.

Project Status

July - September 2009 Update

SANDAG began monitoring and evaluating of the I-15 Managed Lanes Toll Collection System installed by TransCore. The system consists of a total of 18 tolling locations and 13 signing locations. Single-occupancy vehicles (SOV) equipped with FasTrak® pay a dynamically-priced fare based on the distance traveled and the level of traffic at the time of travel. In the third quarter of 2009, the I-15 Express Lanes facility recorded roughly 455,213 FasTrak trips (SOV), and generated a total of $557,882.94 in toll revenue. The majority of vehicles using the Express Lanes continue to be carpools with 2 or more occupants, who go for free. This rate of traffic and account growth is a good indication of the demand for the FasTrak service, and provides a new baseline for future analysis as construction on the expanded facility continues.

More details on the project are available at www.keepsandiegomoving.com and http://fastrak.511sd.com/.

For More Information Contact

Kimberly Weinstein
San Diego Association of Governments
Phone: (619) 699-0725
E-mail: kwa@sandag.org

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