405 Toll Projection – $2.95 for Three Miles!

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(E-mail ALL the OCTA Board Members by clicking HERE.)

If you think the tolls on OC’s  existing toll roads are outrageous, you will be scandalized by the projections for the proposed toll lanes on the 405.

A report prepared by toll road revenue consultant Stantec provides actual estimates for one segment, the most heavily-traveled segment between the 22 and the 605.

Just for this three mile section, the consultant’s 2010 report projects $2.95 as a peak hour toll during the heaviest afternoon traffic segment for their projection year of 2020.

That’s in 2006 dollars;  inflation will push that number up between now and the projected conversion of the two free carpool lanes to toll lanes in 2018.

To be fair, this is the maximum you would pay under their projection between 5 PM and 6 PM. Leave a little earlier to catch the lower toll between 4 PM and 5 PM, and you only pay $2.55. Wait til 8 PM, and your toll drops to 35 cents. Of course by 8 PM, you will be able to cruise along in free-flowing free freeway lanes.

During the middle of the day the projected toll would only be about $.90 for this stretch of road.

If those projected tolls don’t make you angry, consider this. On this section of the 405, OCTA is already building the two carpool lanes that they plan to convert to toll lanes, paying for them with your sales tax dollars provided by the Measure M half cent sales tax on everything you buy.

They are not building a new Express Lane on this segment. Nope, they are just converting the two carpool lanes that are already under construction as part of the $277 million West County Connector Project.

Of course, vehicles with three or more passengers can still ride free, as long as you have a transponder and have set up an account with OCTA. But the conversion of these lanes and changing the rules will exclude over half a million vehicles per year who would ride free under the current two passenger rule. About 2/3 of the carpools that would currently be free  would be charged as much as $1.95.

This would not be the most expensive toll facility in Orange County. As of yesterday, the maximum Fastrak toll on the 91 on Friday afternoon is $10.05 for ten miles. The insolvent 73 toll road  is $5.50 for 12 miles, or 45 cents per mile.

But unlike these other toll roads, these two lanes on this section that would be converted to toll lanes were completely built with taxpayer funds

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AND NOW, somebody has created the excellent…

No 405 Tolls.Com!

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