Proposed toll road's path runs through Pasadena

Metro has been talking about converting some of the Southland's carpool lanes into toll roads for a while, but the proposal has just been moved $214 million closer to reality thanks to an offer from the feds.

The Metro Board voted Thursday to accept the money from the Department of Transportation in a bid to convert carpool lanes along portions of the 210 and 10 freeways into toll lanes. And one stretch would start right here in Pasadena -- at the 710/210/134 junction.

The plan still needs to be approved by the state Legislature and the California Transportation Commission. But if it makes it through that gauntlet, drivers could be paying to use the carpool lanes through Pasadena (and all the way out to Glendora) as soon as 2010, according to a Metro spokesman.

The L.A. Times reports that L.A. got the money when a similar so-called "congestion pricing" plan floated by New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg failed to pass muster in the Empire State's Legislature.

It is unclear how tolls would be assessed, and whether drivers with a certain amount of passengers (say three or more) would either get to use the tollways for free or at a discounted rate. But Metro spokesman David Sotero says it is likely that solo drivers will be able to use the lanes for a "premium" price, and that fees will likely vary based on the time of day. For example, drivers using the tollways during rush hour would pay much more than if they were tooling down the 210 at midnight on a Saturday.

That sounds awfully like the system in place in Orange County along the 91 Express Lanes. Drivers there can pay as much as $9.50 to use the toll road during rush hour, with the price dropping to $1.20 on weekends. Tollway users sign up for accounts with the OCTA and are given a radio transponder that is placed in their vehicles. The device then records the time of day the vehicle entered the tollway, and the appropriate charge is then assessed to the user's account.

OCTA allows vehicles with three or more occupants to use a free special lane in the toll road, but it is not always gratis. Three-person vehicles are still assessed a half-price toll during peak times on the eastbound lanes, but the high-occupancy lane on the westbound side is always free.

To get a feel for how any future tollways could work, check out OCTA's fee schedule and frequently asked questions.

I doubt this is going to go over well with local drivers. Heck, we called them "free"ways for a reason, right? Mayor Manny Lozano of Baldwin Park is already crying bloody murder over the proposal, and I don't think he'll be the last. But Metro officials say something needs to be done to try to free up the carpool lanes, which at times move as slowly as the rest of the freeway. Plus the money raised by tolls would (theoretically) be used to invest in mass transit projects like the Gold Line extension, which would further reduce congestion on the roadways.

What does everybody think? Are you ready to kiss free rides on the carpool lanes goodbye? And do you think it will help traffic -- or will single drivers looking to escape the other lanes no matter the cost end up clogging the HOV lanes even more? Furthermore, with the San Gabriel Valley's track record of getting the shaft when it comes to county-wide transportation funding, do you think the money raised from the tollways will really end up benefiting local projects? Given that the SGV is the guinea pig for Metro's initial toll road experiment, shouldn't that be the case?

Also, look out for a half-cent county sales tax hike on the November ballot. Metro is trying to get that one approved by the Board of Supervisors. In their announcement of the sales tax measure, Metro officials specifically named the Gold Line Foothill Extension and the 710 freeway (tunnel) gap closure as two of the projects that could benefit should the tax hike be approved by the voters.