VPP Projects Involving Tolls
Category: Priced Lanes
Sub-Category: High-Occupancy Toll (HOT) Lanes

Project - CALIFORNIA: I-680 SMART Carpool Lanes in Alameda County

The Interstate 680 (I-680) corridor connects employees in Southern Alameda County and the Silicon Valley with homes in the Tri-Valley, East Contra Costa County and the San Joaquin Valley. The Alameda County Congestion Management Agency, in collaboration with Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority, Caltrans, and the Metropolitan Transportation Commission, determined that using the planned high-occupancy vehicle (HOV) lanes on I-680 as an Express Lane, high-occupancy toll (HOT) lane, would be financially, operationally and physically feasible. The project uses innovative design, technology and enforcement elements. The project is supported by environmental advocacy groups, business and labor organizations. The I-680 Express Lane will be the first in a regional network of high-occupancy toll lane projects.

The I-680 Express Lane would allow carpools to travel free of charge and would charge a toll for single occupancy vehicles to use the excess capacity in the HOT lane. The authorizing legislation required to implement the project became effective January 1, 2005. Federal value pricing funds provided funding for preliminary engineering and environmental clearance to convert the southbound HOV lane that opened in 2002 to an Express Lane facility along a 14-mile segment of I-680 in Alameda County, California (CA) and a two mile segment in Santa Clara County, CA.

Pre-Implementation

Work Completed

Project Status

The improvements for the Express Lane project have been combined with the widening of the existing HOV lane and rehabilitation of the I-680 roadway. The plans, specifications and estimates (PS&E) for the combined project were split into three bid packages. The first contract which includes widening for enforcement areas and buffer striping for the Express Lane in a portion of the corridor was approved by the California Transportation Commission (CTC) in April 2008 and construction started in November 2008.

The two remaining bid packages were approved by the CTC in June 2008 and the construction on these packages started in May 2009. The System Integrator consultant is developing the design parameters and criteria for the dynamic pricing algorithm, as well as the system interface with participating and enforcement agencies and the design of the communication network. The project team is analyzing the contract schedules for a possible "open to traffic" milestone in 2010.

For More Information Contact

Frank Furger
Chief Deputy Director, ACCMA
Executive Director, Sunol Smart Carpool Lane Joint Powers Authority
1333 Broadway, Suite 220
Oakland, CA 94612
Phone: (510) 836-2560
E-mail: ffurger@accma.ca.gov

Back to HOT Lanes Projects