Freeway’s Private Toll Lanes to Cost $2 Per Car

Toll lanes planned for the Riverside Freeway will cost $2 per car to use during peak traffic, will be financed mostly with European money and will be policed by the California Highway Patrol under contract, the president of the firm building the lanes said Wednesday.

Providing the most detailed look yet at his project, California Private Transportation Co. President Gerald S. Pfeffer said trucks will be barred from the toll lanes, which will be built in the median of the freeway. But electric-powered vehicles and cars driven by handicapped veterans will have free access once the lanes open in 1995.

Construction is expected to begin in two to three months--nearly a year behind schedule.

Addressing the 45th California Transportation Symposium at the Red Lion Inn, Pfeffer also said motorists will deposit funds into an account in advance, from which the tolls will be subtracted. Motorists who enter the toll lanes without a sufficient balance in their toll accounts would be subject to the same $271 fine levied on violators in existing car-pool lanes.

The Irvine-based toll road company may sell monthly access rights as discounted “packets” worth a specific number of trips. And tolls may be as low as 25 cents during periods of light traffic, Pfeffer said.

Car pools of three or more will be exempt from the toll.

Pfeffer, however, is still keeping some details secret--including expected profit margins and the names of the banks participating in the project’s financing.