<p>Tolls coming to metro Atlanta HOV lanes? 14-mile stretch of I-85 could get millions of federal dollars for project By ARIEL HART The Atlanta Journal-Constitution November 21, 2008</p><p>Georgia transportation officials are abuzz over the prospect that the U.S. Department of Transportation will give the state millions of dollars to add tolls to HOV lanes in a 14- mile section of I-85, mostly in Gwinnett County.</p><p>Four people close to the project said word was spreading that a high-ranking federal official, maybe even Transportation Secretary Mary Peters herself, may come to Atlanta to present local officials with a hefty sum, perhaps $110 million. The plan would require the state to put in money, too. Some said the announcement could come as early as Tuesday.</p><p>Toll roads are still unusual in Georgia, but state policymakers have concluded that more are necessary to help meet transportation funding gaps.</p><p>At present, the state’s only toll road is the inner-Perimeter extension of Ga. 400, which the state built despite a hail of controversy.</p><p>Publicity over the HOV toll idea so far hasn’t generated a similar storm. The price of the tolls would rise and fall with the traffic congestion in the main lanes, higher tolls when traffic is heavy, lower tolls when traffic is light. To assess the toll, cars probably would be outfitted with transponders and the toll would be levied by electronic sensors with no stopping for toll booths.</p><p>A spokesman for the U.S. Department of Transportation, Brian Turmail, said the agency was considering applications to a congestion-reduction grant program from a range of cities but “at this point we’re not ready to make any announcements.” Georgia has applied for a grant.</p><p>The I-85 project is seen as a prelude to putting tolls on all 44 miles of Atlanta’s HOV lanes in an attempt to free up space — for drivers who are willing to pay. Georgia agencies including the State Road and Tollway Authority and the state Department of Transportation have filed and refiled applications for federal grant money to convert the whole HOV system, or just the northeastern I-85 piece.</p><p>The award is a precarious subject and all who said they had heard of it requested anonymity. In 2007, Georgia competed for a similar grant, and as dealings with U.S. Department of Transportation officials progressed, officials here were all but sure they’d won. They didn’t. Miami, Seattle, New York and other cities won, and aides to Gov. Sonny Perdue, who had vaunted the application’s progress in an announcement, were left to explain a defeat. Thursday, asked about the latest developments and if Perdue would support finding the state matching funds, a spokesman for the governor said in an e-mail, “We don’t comment on buzz.”</p><p>“We have obviously supported similar projects in the past so you can take that for what it’s worth,” wrote the spokesman, Bert Brantley.</p><p>A state DOT board member whose district includes part of I-85 said he couldn’t confirm the award but said he had heard about the possibility and was excited.</p><p>“My reaction is we’re moving forward with a solution to relieve congestion,” said the board member, Robert Brown. “We’re doing something. We’ve done a lot of studying, and it’s time now to implement.”</p><p>Georgia’s application for a federal grant in 2007 asked for tolls on 14 miles of I-85’s HOV lanes, from the Perimeter in DeKalb County to Old Peachtree Road in Gwinnett. If an award materializes, could follow that plan.</p><p>Variable tolls using “congestion pricing” are a principal initiative of Peters’ administration.</p><p>The toll revenues could go toward operating the system, and the point is not necessarily to make money, Georgia officials have said.</p><p>The main idea is to push enough people off the HOV lane to guarantee at least one lane on the highway where traffic can flow freely.</p><p>Under the 2007 application, larger car pools might still ride free.</p><p>The decision about how many people constitute a free car pool is one of many that have yet to be made. In previous interviews, transportation officials have said that while there is consensus on moving forward with the idea, any specific project would still have legal hoops to jump through, board votes to survive, and questions to answer. The toll price is another unknown, but a similar project in California charges about $1 a mile at the most congested time of the week.</p><p>One innovative facet of the 2007 proposal whose fate in the eventual project is unclear was a suggestion to give “commuter credits” to teleworkers and mass-transit riders that could be used for a free solo ride in the toll lane.</p>