DENVER — All those tolls add up: From several digital dimes to pass through each U.S. 36 toll point to $9 or more to beat ski traffic on Interstate 70, Front Range drivers paid nearly $20 million to use Colorado’s growing express lane network in the first half of the year.
But the pandemic’s effects, including a transformation of commuting habits for many workers, reduced traffic in some of those lanes — and cut significantly into that money flow, which is still recovering.
The volatility has forced the Colorado Department of Transportation and Plenary Roads Denver, the private CDOT partner that manages U.S. 36 and connecting express lanes on Interstate 25 that go downtown, to dip into reserve funds as they’ve weathered the pandemic. Each draws on toll and fine revenue to make big debt payments on several highway expansion projects, along with covering road operating and maintenance costs on all toll corridors.
