WEST VALLEY CITY — With a month until high-occupancy vehicle lanes become electronic, the Utah Department of Transportation will begin selling transponders to drivers of single-occupant vehicles at 6 a.m. Tuesday.
Drivers can sign up at expresslanes.utah.gov. The first 2,000 people to sign up will get the $8.75 transponders for free.
Utah's I-15 will join a handful of other so-called "high-occupancy toll" lanes that are electronic, such as I-15 in San Diego, I-395 in Minneapolis, state Route 167 in Seattle and I-95 in Miami, said Catherine Cutler, UDOT product manager over the electronic HOT lanes, which UDOT is calling Express Lanes.
Express Lanes will remain free for carpoolers, motorcyclists, buses and vehicles with "C" license plates that the Environmental Protection Agency deems as burning cleaner, such as hybrids or compressed natural gas vehicles.
But if you're the only one in your car and you want to hop in the HOT lane — UDOT aims to keep traffic in the lane going at least 55 mph at all times — you have to pay.
Previously, such drivers had to pay UDOT $50 a month. But beginning Aug. 23, when the electronic system goes live, the cost will vary, depending on traffic volumes and the "zone" of I-15 in which you're driving. There are four zones between Utah and Davis counties, and electronic signs above the lanes will advertise the price along each zone.
The cost will range between 25 cents and $1. The price will be higher when there is heavy traffic, since the idea behind HOT lanes is to encourage people to carpool.
"The lane gives us more control so there's value for carpoolers," UDOT spokesman Nile Easton said.
Drivers mount the suction-cupped transponders to their windshields. When a driver rides in the Express Lanes, antennas on the sides of the freeway will communicate with the transponders via radio frequency identification, and a proper price will be deducted from the driver's account.
Drivers can manage their accounts on the UDOT website. To keep their accounts activated, drivers will have to prepay $25. When their balances get down to $10, another $25 is automatically deducted from their credit cards. If drivers want the deducted amount to be higher than $25, they can go online and change the deduction, Easton said.
During times when drivers are in actual carpools in the Express Lanes, they can deactivate the transponder manually.
About 1,400 drivers have paid UDOT $50 a month to use the HOV lanes, and about 1,200 of those already have obtained the transmitters early. If UDOT can get 4,000 people using the system about once a week for $1, it will pay for itself, Cutler said.
e-mail: lhancock@desnews.com
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