Automated Toll Road Promises Time Savings

Commuters willing to pay for the privilege could find their travel times dramatically reduced on a major route through Orange County beginning at noon today with the opening of the nation’s first fully automated toll road.

The 10-mile tollway runs along the center of the most congested stretch of the Riverside (91) Freeway, from the Riverside County line to the northern tip of the Costa Mesa (55) Freeway in Anaheim.

“We think this represents an important trend,” said Gerald Pfeffer, managing director of the California Private Transportation Co., which has been working on the $126-million toll road since 1993. “This is not your grandfather’s toll road.”

Planners say the new lanes, called the “91 Express Lanes,” could save commuters at least 20 minutes in each direction during peak commuting periods when the Riverside Freeway slows to a crawl. The freeway is used by an estimated 250,000 drivers each day.

“There are people getting up at 4:30 a.m. in Hemet to try and beat the traffic jam to get to work on time,” Pfeffer said. “This will enable those folks to set their alarm clocks a little later in the morning and to get home at night in time to see the kids.”

Motorists equipped with special transponders mounted on their dashboards will be able to travel at 65 mph, while overhead antennas automatically debit their accounts.

Those wishing to obtain transponders, Pfeffer said, must first establish accounts with his company for payment of tolls ranging from 25 cents to $2.50 per trip, depending on the direction and time of day. Rush hours are the most expensive times to travel. Cars with transponders and three or more occupants can use the road for free.

The company has posted video cameras to record the license plates of motorists attempting to enter the toll road without transponders and plans to send bills or citations by mail, company officials said.

While the nation has a few other toll roads either privately operated or partially automated, the 91 Express Lanes are the first to rely fully on that technology without any human or mechanical coin collectors, toll road officials said.

“We are probably the only toll road in the country whose competition is four feet away,” Pfeffer said. “Because we’re competing with free lanes, the only way people will use our lanes is if they feel that they’re getting something better.”

To help make the experience more appealing to drivers, the company has assembled a fleet of tow trucks to immediately clear away wrecks or stalled cars after being alerted by 35 video cameras set up to monitor toll road conditions around the clock.

Planners also say they intend to spend about $120 million over the next 35 years--the period of their contract with the state for operating the toll road--to maintain its condition and to pay for law enforcement by the California Highway Patrol.

“We think we are going to be viewed increasingly as an integral part of solving the transportation puzzle,” Pfeffer said.

Company officials declined to say how many vehicles they expect to use the new lanes.

On Tuesday, workers were scrambling to prepare for opening day by doing last-minute road checks and testing electrical systems. Today’s opening begins with a ribbon-cutting ceremony at 10 a.m., followed by the first toll road traffic at noon. Meanwhile, in Corona, the toll road company was doing brisk business Tuesday at its customer service office, where workers were handing out transponders to customers.

“I think it’s a great idea,” said Jim Meyer, who lives in Corona and spends 2 1/2 hours a day commuting to his job as a database manager in Cypress. “This will give me an extra hour or so a day to spend with my family.”

Sandra Bobbers was picking up a transponder for her husband, Dennis, who drives between their home in Corona and his job in Costa Mesa every day. She said it was too early to tell whether the new toll lanes would significantly affect their lives. “I guess we’ll find out,” she said. “If it works, great.”

Michael Vega, a shipping manager who spends 50 minutes a day driving his motorcycle between lanes to get to his job in Irvine, said the toll road would at least give him a lane to himself. “This will be safer,” he said.

Not everyone, however, was enamored of the new road.

“I hate it,” said Bob Hoiberg, a bathroom remodeler who travels all over Los Angeles and Orange counties daily and said he got a transponder reluctantly and for use only in emergencies.

“I pay taxes that are supposed to cover transportation,” he said. “It irritates the daylights out of me that here I am paying again.”