Over the next six months, two key transportation projects will come online in San Diego, easing the commutes of hundreds of thousands of San Diegans. Improved drive times promise to be compelling evidence that government innovations and free-market approaches to problem solving can dramatically improve our quality of life. With strong civic leadership, they may become the first installments of a new market-friendly network that keeps commuters in the fast lane.
Officially known as State Route 125, the “South Bay Expressway” (SBX) is a new ten-mile toll highway that stretches from Otay Mesa to Spring Valley, connecting State Route 905 with State Route 54. Scheduled for completion in the fall, SBX is being built through a public-private partnership between the state of California and a private investor. Both benefit, as the private partner agrees to construct the highway, assumes the risk for project delays and cost increases, contributes sorely needed capital and collect tolls to recoup its investment – while public transportation officials gain a major infrastructure improvement years before it would have been completed under standard bureaucratic processes.
Most importantly, SBX will be a welcome addition to the communities living inside the bustling South Bay corridor, whose major highways (I-805 and I-5) are flooded each morning with thousands of commuters as well as freight and travelers passing through the U.S.-Mexico border, the world’s busiest port of entry. Charging toll rates on SBX based on length of travel and vehicle size ensures that commercial trucks will shoulder a higher cost for their greater wear and tear of the road, and local residents making neighborhood trips will pay a minimum cost for their drives through town.
North County is also experiencing a major construction project as the current Interstate 15 “Express Lanes” (specialized toll lanes that provide free trips to high-occupancy vehicles and charged trips to single drivers) are being expanded into four “Managed Lanes,” using innovation to ease congestion at peak-hour periods. Expanding upon an initial eight-mile stretch, the I-15 Managed Lanes will ultimately stretch an impressive twenty miles by replacing the current highway median, from State Road 78 in Escondido to the northern tip of State Road 163 in Miramar. This highway-within-a-highway will employ a movable barrier to expand lane capacity with the flow of traffic, and will integrate the proven success of “value pricing,” whereby single occupancy vehicles are charged varying prices based upon fluctuating traffic conditions.
Using price as a way to allocate the supply of excess lane capacity is an economically sound policy whose time has come. Too many of our highways today are experiencing textbook cases of the tragedy of the commons. When individuals in their own self-interest make use of a free resource, in this case drivers using roadway, they eliminate access for all. Value pricing raises toll rates at peak traffic hours and lowers them during off-peak hours, ensuring that this scare and finite resource will be available for any driver who needs it, when they need it. While critics have termed these systems “Lexus lanes” arguing that they only benefit affluent drivers, the data tells a far different story. Statistics on high-occupancy toll (HOT) lane usage on the I-15 corridor has shown that drivers of all economic backgrounds make use of these lanes.
The SBX and Managed Lanes advance effective market-based solutions to infrastructure development and traffic management, saving taxpayer dollars and expanding individual choice at a time when government revenue is dwindling and the local population is rising.
More Managed Lanes are currently planned under the regional transportation plan of local government officials. Getting them linked and deployed in a comprehensive fashion needs to be a top priority. A 2005 policy study from the Reason Institute examined the feasibility of an integrated network of Managed Lanes, connecting Interstates 5, 15, and 805 with State Routes 52, 54, 94, 125 and 163. This 447 lane-mile system could use toll revenues to pay back the majority of its capital costs, and provide more residents with the benefits of having “congestion insurance” 24 hours a day, saving precious time and money. Even more daring, regional decision makers should seriously explore using public-private partnerships to speed up the system’s deployment. Like with SBX, concessions could be offered to private ventures to build the HOT lanes and the construction finances from the tolls. This, in turn, would free up more resources to improve other parts of the transportation network – such as major arterials and city streets – where value pricing is less technically feasible.
Absent a major shift in individual choice or consumer behavior, the overwhelming majority of working San Diegans will continue to own private vehicles and make solo commutes, a reality acknowledged by even the most passionate advocates for public transportation. Avoiding the commuter chaos and highway hell of Los Angeles requires local leaders to continue to think outside the box and seek market-based approaches and build on the successes of SBX and the I-15 project. Embracing more “asphalt economic” policies to improve public infrastructure and provide reliably high-speed drives will enable San Diego to keep its doors and its roads open for business.
Reader Feedback
DJH Says:
Can you provide a citation to accompany your claim that "Statistics on high-occupancy toll (HOT) lane usage on the I-15 corridor has shown that drivers of all economic backgrounds make use of these lanes."? Merely saying that all types of drivers use the lanes provides no information about the actual socioeconomic distribution of the usage patterns. Taken literally, your statement could be corroborated by a study that showing that 1 low income vehicle traveled in the lanes for every 100,000 high income vehicles.
September 27, 2007 at 6:15 PM
Tom Kaye Says:
This still sounds like a way to generate extra funds for the state, rather than helping ease the traffic problem for us all. There's only so many lanes that are possible to build within a given space. Dedicating some of that precious space to someone who wants to pay extra to drive there doesn't ease the traffic hassles for the rest of us, nor lower the taxes that we pay to have a real reaffic solution.
September 28, 2007 at 5:24 AM
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Can you provide a citation to accompany your claim that "Statistics on high-occupancy toll (HOT) lane usage on the I-15 corridor has shown that drivers of all economic backgrounds make use of these lanes."? Merely saying that all types of drivers use the lanes provides no information about the actual socioeconomic distribution of the usage patterns. Taken literally, your statement could be corroborated by a study that showing that 1 low income vehicle traveled in the lanes for every 100,000 high income vehicles.
This still sounds like a way to generate extra funds for the state, rather than helping ease the traffic problem for us all. There's only so many lanes that are possible to build within a given space. Dedicating some of that precious space to someone who wants to pay extra to drive there doesn't ease the traffic hassles for the rest of us, nor lower the taxes that we pay to have a real reaffic solution.