ALBANY – New York is not the only city looking to slap a charge on drivers to ease congestion and qualify for federal transportation funding.
The eight other finalists – for a combined $1.2 billion to be awarded to five cities next month – are all looking to implement different kinds of tolls, although none has a proposed a downtown congestion-pricing plan like Mayor Bloomberg’s, a Post review has found.
San Francisco would charge a toll – that would go up during peak hours – on a two-mile, six-lane connector road between the Golden Gate Bridge and downtown.
The idea is to encourage more people to use ferry and bus service while also raising money to replace the road, said Tilly Chang, deputy planning director of the San Francisco County Transportation Authority.
A number of the other finalists are looking to charge some drivers for the privilege of using lanes that are less congested by converting existing car-pool lanes to toll lanes.
Most of the proposals would still allow buses and carpoolers to ride free in the specially designated lanes.
But cars with one or two occupants – depending on the proposals – would be charged a shifting toll based on traffic.
Minnesota’s plan for Minneapolis, for instance, would enact a toll that would drop to as low as 25 cents at noncongested times and rise to $8 during peak times through the use of meters, cameras and changeable message signs.
“As congestion increases on the general purpose lane and more people pay for the [high occupancy] lane, we can raise the price of the lane by looking at traffic every three minutes,” said Bernie Arseneau, director of the Minnesota Department of Transportation.
Similar tolls enacted on other roads in the state have proved to be successful, said Bernie Arseneau, director of the Minnesota Department of Transportation’s traffic office.
Among the other finalists, Miami, Dallas, Atlanta, Denver and San Diego have similar plans.
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