The Utah Department of Transportation is exploring toll roads among several "managed lane" alternatives to address future traffic demands. Other possibilities are reversible lanes, high-occupancy vehicle (HOV) lanes, and high-occupancy toll (HOT) lanes.
All of the prospects were discussed Wednesday during a meeting of the Legislature's Transportation Interim Com- mittee.
"We want to move more people, not cars, and having managed lanes is one way to do this," said UDOT Deputy Director Carlos Braceras.
HOV lanes - lanes reserved for vehicles with a minimum of two people - are currently in use along I-15 in Salt Lake and Utah counties. Initiated after the completion of the freeway's reconstruction in 2001, the lanes have helped encourage carpooling - one of the main purposes for managed lanes.
"We feel it has been very successful," Braceras said, saying that toll roads would also help to encourage carpooling, and thus ease traffic congestion. They also would generate revenue, which carpooling has not done.
Senate Bill 25 says money generated from toll roads would go to building and maintaining Utah's roadways. However, it is still unsure what toll prices would be for commuters. Denver, which is one model, charges an average $1.25 on its toll roads.
It isn't definite Utah will initiate pay roads, Braceras said, though it is something that has been seriously studied for the past year and a half.
The Managed Lane Study, as it is called, is now nearing completion and has explored how other states have used managed lanes, what works well for them and under what conditions. In comparison, the study determines what type of managed lane may work for certain Utah roadways.
When the study is done, UDOT will report back to the Interim Committee, sometime before October.
In Utah, there could very well be a pilot HOT lane in place, probably somewhere along I-15, as early as summer 2006. HOT lanes require that vehicles with only one person pay a toll; those with two or more may use the lane for free.
Reversible lanes - one or more lanes on which the direction of travel is reversed to provide more capacity during peak hours - is another option for Utah's transportation future.
As for toll ways, Braceras said one prospect is the Mountain View Corridor, a 30-mile highway that will stretch along the west bench of Salt Lake County to Utah County. The corridor's Environmental Impact Study will be completed in mid-2006, with possible federal approval as early as fall of the same year.
Some legislators don't want to rush to collect tolls, but say the Managed Lane Study should tell them a lot about what should be done in certain highly traveled areas of the state.
"We are painfully aware of Utah's transportation needs," said Sen. Sheldon Killpack, R-Syracuse. "The thing is, there are always naysayers when you mention something like toll roads, but I believe we need to look at every option available to us, otherwise we're being foolish."
