From the time U.S. 36 tolling started July 22 to Sept. 30, $329,933 was collected from drivers traveling between Federal Boulevard and 88th Street in Louisville, according to a first-quarter report released Friday.
An additional $1.2 million was collected from the portion of Interstate 25 tolled from downtown Denver to U.S. 36 from July 1 to Sept. 30.
The report is the first indication of the public taking to the U.S. 36 toll lane, which was added to reduce congestion on the highway between Boulder and Denver.
“We believe the express lanes are working well and drivers are enjoying the choices they have,” said Megan Castle, spokeswoman for the High Performance Transportation Enterprise, an arm of the Colorado Department of Transportation.
But some motorists say the express lanes are too expensive and aren’t alleviating traffic.
“We’ve all been ‘had’ with the new toll lane,” said Karen Hartman, who has been commuting on U.S. 36 for nearly eight years. “Hardly anyone uses it. And when they do, they have to merge back on U.S. 36, which causes the traffic to back up worse than it did five years ago.”
Hartman said flow may improve when the next phase of the U.S. 36 expansion project is extended to Table Mesa Drive in Boulder next year.
Kent Fonda, who merges onto U.S. 36 at the McCaslin interchange in Lousiville to begin his commute, said CDOT should have opened all three lanes of the highway for everyone to use if it wanted to reduce congestion.
“Overall, I do not think the new construction has diminished traffic very much,” he said.
Kelly Harkins, who travels extensively as a dental sales representative, said her company covers the cost of her toll use and she appreciates the convenience.
“The toll road has allowed me to get to Boulder and the surrounding areas faster than previously,” Harkins said. “My company would rather pay some tolls for me to be visiting dentists rather than sitting in an hour of traffic.”
Plenary Roads Denver, which manages the highway for CDOT and collects tolls, produced the report.
Traffic volumes between July and late September on both highways were mixed, compared with the prior three months, the report said. That is likely the result of families being on vacation during the summer.
According to the report, 1.2 million cars drove on U.S. 36 from July 15 to Sept. 15.
Total license plate traffic — those who did not use a discount toll pass — topped 554,804 from July to late September. Express toll users, those with electronic passes, totaled 442,026 during that same period, according to the report.
Traffic counts on U.S. 36 reflect the number of gantries where tolls are taken. In all, there are 10 gantries, five in each direction on this stretch of U.S. 36.
That means if drivers used the express lane all the way from Denver to Boulder, they would have traveled under five westbound gantries and been counted five times.
