The start of tolling has been delayed for new express lanes in a 10-mile stretch of Interstate 70 through northeast Denver and Aurora, the Colorado Department of Transportation said Wednesday.
The lanes are currently in a free testing mode, with plans to begin collecting tolls Feb. 28 as the $1.3 billion Central 70 expansion project wraps up. But CDOT spokesman Tim Hoover says the system contractor, Electronic Transaction Consultants, has run into “software issues” and other challenges as it prepares the equipment.
“Our hope is to open it before spring,” Hoover said. “We might end up considerably sooner than that, but we’re just in a holding pattern at the moment.”
Once charging begins, drivers who have an ExpressToll transponder will pay flat-rate tolls between $2.50 and $4.50, depending on the time of day, under a rate schedule approved last month by the board of CDOT’s enterprise arm. Toll rates will be considerably higher, up to about $10, for those charged by license-plate tolling.
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