Beginning in July, the cost to travel in the extra toll lanes on U.S. 36 will be about average for the nation’s toll roads, according to state officials.
The cost will be 45 cents a mile during peak morning hours, compared to $1.40 a mile in California and $1.25 in Virginia.
For those with an electronic pass, a trip on the toll lane from Broomfield to Denver would cost $7.60 during the morning commute. Those without a pass would pay $13.68.
That may seem like a lot, but no one will be forced to use the new lanes. And if too few motorists choose the lanes, Plenary Roads Denver, which agreed to construct and manage the rebuilt highway in exchange for toll proceeds, no doubt will feel compelled to lower the tolls.
Colorado motorists should get used to this type of system.
Without additional public money for highways or infrastructure improvements or an appetite to raise the gas tax, costs to build highways will be borne partly by private entities like Plenary Roads that use tolling to recoup their investment.
Tolling already is being considered for a lane each way on the proposed rebuild of Interstate 70 through north Denver.
Public appreciation for toll roads may be difficult to find — except among those with disposable cash or an urgent need to get somewhere faster. But surely having the safety valve of toll lanes is better than not expanding highways at all.
A woman in the audience at a recent meeting of the High Performance Transportation Enterprise reminded the board that Broomfield and Boulder voted for rail service and enhanced bus service, not toll roads.
That is true. But cost overruns forced the Regional Transportation District to delay rail in the northwest corridor, probably indefinitely.
Unless voters approve hikes in gas taxes or transportation bonds, tolling will increasingly become a facet of commuting life in Denver.
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