Motorists using the express lanes along a newly widened stretch of C-470 south of Denver — set to open this spring after a year-plus delay — could pay up to $6.60 to traverse the 12.5 miles of highway through Highlands Ranch and Littleton.

And forget about loading up the car with multiple passengers — or even a couple dozen clowns — to evade the toll: There will be no free rides for high-occupancy vehicles in the C-470 toll lanes.

Officials with the High Performance Transportation Enterprise, a division within CDOT, are set to finalize rates next month for the metro area’s newest pay lanes. Staff has submitted suggested toll rates to the HPTE board that max out at $6.60 for a westbound evening rush-hour trip between Interstate 25 and Wadsworth Boulevard and bottom out at $1.95 for off-peak travel.

On the eastbound side, tolls would top out at $4.85 during the morning rush and taper off to $2.50 during the quieter times of day, according to a proposed tolling schedule obtained by The Denver Post. Lesser amounts will be charged to people leaving the highway at in-between exits.

The toll amounts assume use of an ExpressToll pass. For drivers without one, tolls charged via a vehicle’s license plate could go as high as $13.72 for that same westbound evening journey.

“The toll rate is based on what will provide a reliable trip, and many factors go into determining the rate,” said Colorado Department of Transportation spokeswoman Tamara Rollison.

What people are charged, she said, is based on “traffic and revenue forecast models.” Federal highway officials require that traffic in the express lanes on C-470 moves at 45 mph 90% of the time or tolls must be raised, CDOT says.

No HOV on C-470

The goal behind the C-470 Express Lanes project is to unclog a stretch of highway, built in the 1980s as the first segment of a beltway around Denver, that’s become notoriously congested during rush hours. The $276 million effort echoes congestion-relief efforts CDOT has undertaken on I-25 north and south of Denver, on I-70 through Idaho Springs and on U.S. 36 between Boulder and Denver.

In each of those corridors, express lanes run parallel to general-purpose lanes that are free to drive. The idea is that if the free lanes bog down with traffic, commuters who want to avoid staring at a collection of illuminated taillights can move to the express lane for faster travel — for a price.

C-470 will follow the I-70 Mountain Express Lane model in charging every vehicle using the pay lanes, except for motorcycles, a toll no matter how many people are in the vehicle. All other corridors with managed lanes in the metro area allow people with three or more occupants in a car — known as HOV3 — to travel at no cost.

CDOT spokeswoman Presley Fowler said that’s because financial analysis done five years ago on the C-470 project showed that one of every three cars in the express lanes was projected to carry three or more occupants. Giving them HOV status, she said, would reduce toll revenue by 15%.

“When the financial analysis was done on C-470 back in 2015, the project was coming up $40 million short with HOV3,” Fowler said.

Revenues from the toll lanes are critical to funding the C-470 overhaul. The High Performance Transportation Enterprise issued $161.7 million in bonds for the project, while more than $100 million in federal loan funding has also been made available.

But generating sufficient tolls to repay those bonds on time has been a concern recently, especially as the project’s opening has slipped further forward on the calendar. Construction began in 2016, and C-470’s express lanes were initially scheduled to open in late 2018.

The contractor, Flatiron/AECOM, blamed last spring’s inclement weather and a shortage of materials for the slowdown. CDOT last summer sent Flatiron/AECOM a notice of default, accusing it of providing “false and materially misleading representation” regarding deadlines and delays.

Since missing a completion deadline of Aug. 2, 2019, Flatiron/AECOM has been levied between $38,000 and $51,000 a day in penalties, totaling nearly $8.5 million so far. The delay led credit rating agency Fitch Ratings to give the highway revamp a “rating watch negative” last year.

“We have focused significant resources on the C-470 project, working closely with CDOT, the project owner,” said Michael Swenson, a spokesman for the contractor. “We are making great progress toward completion as we seek to finish the project safely and expeditiously.”

In fact, the project is 92% complete at this point, according to CDOT. That led Fitch late last month to remove its negative watch, instead assigning a “negative outlook” on the debt.

“We have confidence they will complete the project,” said Mario Angastiniotis, an analyst with Fitch.

Acclimatizing to tolls

While no date certain has been announced for the launch of the express lanes, the concern now is how long the “ramp-up” period will run before motorists show a willingness to use the managed lanes on a consistent basis.

“When you start a brand-new highway, there’s a period of time for people to get used to paying for it,” Angastiniotis said. “You effectively have to become acclimatized to paying tolls.”

What will help with driver familiarity are the corridors already in existence in and around the Denver metro area — with more on the way — that are either fully or partially tolled. Furthermore, drivers will be able to use the same ExpressToll pass on C-470 that they use elsewhere for electronic tolling.

Highlands Ranch resident Becky Talley said she has been frustrated with the prolonged construction on C-470, which she said has made travel dangerous as lanes have narrowed and shifted around.

She’s not sold on using the express lanes when they open in a couple of months but recognizes that traffic volumes on any given day will likely make that decision for her.

“If it was super busy, I would take those lanes,” she said.