GDOT planning Atlanta HOV lane fees

The Georgia Department of Transportation is considering a tiered pay program for Atlanta’s 44-miles of interstate High Occupancy Vehicle (HOV) lanes.

GDOT spokesperson Ericka Davis says the program would allow large car pools to ride the lanes for free, but would likely charge smaller carpools and single vehicles.

The fees would be used to pay for the system, and fund mass-transit projects.

GDOT officials recently returned from a visit to Texas to examine similar programs in that state, and is currently "in the middle of working out the logistics" of the plan, Davis said.

Davis said the plan would cost upwards of $470 million dollars.

GDOT Commissioner Gena Evans and officials from the Governor's Office also met with U.S. DOT Secretary Mary Peters to discuss the plan, Davis added.

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Transportation secretary: system 'broken'

Today the nation's Transportation Secretary told a crowd at Georgia Tech in Atlanta that the federal approach to transportation funding is "broken." Mary Peters unveiled a plan to improve federal spending on building and maintaining interstate highways. Her plan calls for consolidating 102 federal transportation programs and replacing them with eight comprehensive projects. Congress must adopt the plan before it is implemented.