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I-394 toll lane has public support

One year after opening, project has met its priority goals

One year after Minnesota’s first-ever toll lanes opened, it may be a bit early to declare success. But the “pay-for-use” toll lanes on I-394 are heading in the right direction.

A survey published in May of 550 regular users of the toll lanes showed a 95 percent approval rating of the state program regulating use of the expressway. Even among non-users, the concept of toll lanes earned a 59 percent approval rating, with little variation across income, education or gender differences.

A perfect commuter system? No. But by all accounts the outlook is positive, and the initial goals of the MnPASS program have been met:

• Get better use out of existing high-occupancy vehicle (HOV) lanes
• Maintain free-flowing speeds for carpools and transit in HOV lanes
• Ease highway congestion
• Successfully use new technology

“The program is just about where we expected it to be at the one-year anniversary” in terms of highway use, transponder leases and congestion relief, said Kevin Gutknecht, a spokesman for the Minnesota Department of Transportation (MnDOT).

Goal: 100 percent of operating costs covered by tolls, fines

On the financial side, MnDOT has collected $865,000 in revenue through MnPASS fees and fines, Gutknecht said. That’s about 85 percent of its annual operating costs. Based on current trends, MnDOT planners expect the program to generate 100 percent of its operating costs in the second year of operation, he said.

One key to the system: operational flexibility. After a rough start, several aspects of the system were adjusted, including hours of operation, and rules and fees to increase its efficiency and move more vehicles and more riders down the road quicker. The tweaks paid off.

“The first year of operation has gone very well and our priority goals have been met,” said John Doan, a MnDOT senior engineer who also is MnPASS program director. “During peak hours, we have 350 new vehicles per hour using HOV lanes, which provides MnPASS users with more reliable service getting to their destinations and takes those vehicles out of the general purpose lanes.

“Even for drivers who are not MnPASS users, we have 3,000 fewer cars per day using the general purpose lanes, which helps all drivers by increasing speeds for everyone,” Doan said.

Toll price varies depending on demand

To use the toll lanes, drivers register their vehicles with MnDOT and lease a mobile “transponder” which is placed in the car. Stored value in the driver’s account is deducted when the toll lane is used.

Variable pricing for using the toll lanes can fluctuate every few minutes depending on demand. The cost range is $.50 to $8.00 per use. A typical commuter pays $1-$3 during peak hours.

Carpools, motorcycles and public transit have free access to the toll lanes. Violators of the toll lanes are down from an estimated 25 percent of all drivers before May 2005 to less than 10 percent in 2006. The cost of getting caught is steep: A first-time violation is $142.

Drivers are responding. From opening day in May 2005 to December 2005, MnPASS had doubled its recorded vehicle trips, from about 10,000 toll trips per week in May to a peak of about 20,000 toll trips per week in December. Due to an expected summer fluctuation and a price adjustment last January, an average of 17,500 toll trips per week were recorded in June.

Why drivers use MnPASS

The results of a recent driver survey reveal why people are using the toll lanes.

• Reduce overall travel time: 64 percent
• Reduce time spent in traffic: 21 percent
• Increase reliability of travel time: 9 percent
• Increase personal safety while driving: 4 percent
• Other: 2 percent

But is it equitable? Until now Minnesotans have thought of roads as a public benefit for everyone. Early critics of the program claimed the extra toll was unfair and inequitable for lower-income residents living in the metro area.

Survey results do not support that concern. “For a person who must be somewhere at a set time — a parent picking up a child from day care, a medical appointment — paying the extra fare may save them from other costs, financial or emotional,” said Lee Munnich, director of the State and Local Policy Program at the Humphrey Institute, which conducted the survey.

“The fare is low enough that people from all economic levels find it worthwhile to use occasionally. A survey of corridor users shows support for allowing drivers to pay to move faster on the highway as strong at lower income levels as at higher income levels,” he said.

In August 2005, the Metropolitan Council — a partner with MnDOT on the project — formally agreed “to actively consider MnPASS lanes for all future highway expansion projects in congested corridors” in the seven-county Twin Cities metro area.