Tolls will rise but EXpressToll customers will receive discounts

The E-470 board of directors approved a scheduled January 1, 2009 toll increase featuring a two-tiered pricing structure. Tolls at mainline toll plazas and ramp plazas will rise for all customers but, for the first time, E-470 will provide discounts to EXpressToll customers--those customers who have a transponder in their vehicle.

The scheduled toll increase, the first increase in three years, is part of the E-470 plan of finance. That plan was originally adopted and approved by the E-470 board of directors in 1990 and reaffirmed in 1995 and again in 2000. The increase will help E-470 keep pace with debt service obligations to bondholders and operational costs.

E-470's toll rate structure outlines a standard toll for two-axle vehicles with extra tolls for each additional axle. The standard toll will increase at all E-470 mainline toll plazas by 50 cents and the standard ramp toll will be increased from 75 cents to $1. EXpressToll customers will pay 25 cents less than the new standard rate at mainline toll plazas and 10 cents less for ramp tolls.

The new tolls will be as follows:

· Mainline Toll Plaza A, between Peoria Street and Chambers Road, Douglas County: $2.25 standard toll; $2 EXpressToll

· Remaining four mainline toll plazas: $2.50 standard toll; $2.25 EXpressToll

· Ramp tolls: $1 standard toll; 90 cents EXpressToll

The discounts for EXpressToll customers come in conjunction with the 2009 transition to an all electronic toll collection system, a change aimed at increasing safety and keeping operational costs in check.

A new, non-stop toll collection option--License Plate Toll--will be introduced January 1. Customers using License Plate Toll will be billed at the standard toll rate. License Plate Toll customers will be billed for their travel through any lanes. For those vehicles without an EXpressToll transponder, cameras will photograph the front and rear license plates of the vehicles and a bill will be sent monthly to the registered owner of the vehicle, regardless of the state in which the vehicle is registered.

Cash payments will no longer be accepted starting July 4, 2009.

According to E-470 Public Highway Authority executive director Ed DeLozier, "EXpressToll customers prepay their tolls. They will receive a discount because the operational cost per EXpressToll transaction is significantly less than either a cash transaction or a License Plate Toll transaction."

E-470 is a tollway that runs along the eastern perimeter of the Denver metropolitan area. The 70-mph highway extends 47 miles from State Highway C-470 at I-25 in Douglas County, ending at I-25 near 160 th Ave., in Thornton.