Examination of Paid Travel on I-85 Express Lanes

The implementation of the I-85 express lanes in Atlanta, Georgia, was the first conversion of a high-occupancy vehicle lane to a high-occupancy toll lane that simultaneously increased the occupancy requirement (from two or more persons to three or more persons) and implemented tolls without the creation of additional lanes. This paper presents the findings of an analysis of tolling data collected during the first year of operation as part of the National Evaluation of Urban Partnership Agreement and Congestion Reduction Demonstration programs sponsored by the U.S. Department of Transportation. This analysis found the median willingness to pay for express lane travel time savings to be $19.45 per hour across all time periods and $33.17 per hour for southbound a.m. peak travel. There was little difference in the willingness to pay between frequent and infrequent travelers of the express lanes. This analysis was based on actual tolls paid by travelers and therefore represents the minimum these travelers were willing to pay.