Tolling operations began this morning for a new 11-mile express lane on southbound Interstate Highway 680 from Martinez to Walnut Creek.
The express lane starting at Marina Vista Boulevard in Martinez will charge tolls from 5 a.m. to 8 p.m. on weekdays and connects with a previously existing 11-mile express lane on southbound Highway 680 from Rudgear Road in Walnut Creek to Alcosta Boulevard in San Ramon.
To use the express lane, drivers need to have a FasTrak toll tag, and carpoolers need a FasTrak Flex toll tag set to the 2 or 3+ position. People driving by themselves can pay half the price of the toll if they have an eligible clean-air vehicle and a FasTrak CAV toll tag, according to the Metropolitan Transportation Commission.
Tolls change for the lane depending on levels of traffic on the highway. Digital signs above the lane will display the rate, which drivers pay for each toll zone they enter, with five zones in all on the 22-mile stretch from Martinez to San Ramon.
Love how the government confiscates our rights and sells them back to us.
you mean we still have to pay a toll for road upkeep even after the feds are throwing $250 million, every year, towards our roads??? where is all this money going???
.
With a stroke of his pen, Newsom can divert gas tax funds towards public transit improvements touted to reduce global warming.
.
It’s intended to get you out of your personal vehicle.
.
BTW, ya don’t have to pay for jt…. just stay out of the toll lane and be nicely stuck in stop-n-go traffic with your vehicle operating inefficiently (and emitting NOx and CO) than at a higher speed. Makes sense, right?
Into there friends pockets.
funny to have to pay for the roads twice, or maybe this is part of the democrat slush fund
#RecallGavinNewsom
This is how Texas pays for highways.
yawn
more of what we dont need
so poll time how many dems use the toll lane ??:?
dont be shy we americans paid for it
we should know whos using it
Why not just call the toll lane/FastTrack lane what it really is. It should be called the “privileged” lane.
The lane for the wealthy or rich, not for the regular working class person…
….and it only made Traffic WORSE!!!
If traffic gets really bad, you could always bypass it on Contra Costa Blvd. and stop in for a cool treat at the Coldstone Creamery in Pleasant Hill. Win-win for everyone!!!
RE: Wally – Coldstone? Have you checked out the Dirty Dining section of Claycord before? You just might want to do that….
DuckQuill- did you read my comments in the Water Cooler on this subject back on the 18th?! You just might want to do that…
Just like the gas taxes, this is a giant slush fund contribution. I would like to see where and who gets the money.
Everyone take your license plate off. Can’t catch us all.
seems to work for many already must be racist to pull those drivers over
#RecallGavinNewsom
You first, T-Rex. Talk is cheap.
Or fast track flex on 3 position with limo tint. Those special person counting cameras don’t work then.
So, we pay $7.50 to travel on 11 miles of roadway we paid for?
L-O-L.
So glad I don’t commute anymore.
The bridge tolls are on their way to $8 if I am not mistaken.
At what point do we rally to arms and march on Sacramento?
When you need a vaccine passport to buy food like in France, it’s time.
Amusing that a majority of Claycord posters are disappointed with California governance and yet somewhere we have a silent majority of voters thinking things are great and they should keep voting the way they are.
…. yes, the sheep that don’t listen, read, or keep up with what’s going on around them – complacent voters that really shouldn’t vote if they don’t keep informed … imho
.. so we paid heavy taxes to build it – no we have to pay to use it? Ridiculous ! We need new leadership!
We have no leaders – only political leeches.
They don’t give a damn about you…
Governor power grab.
#recall
https://twitter.com/i/status/ 1427034407127326720
Express Lane not a new highway. I think we are headed to electric overhead rails, hook on, relax but don’t forget your exit.
This is a mafia state. We paid for the roads, we pay to maintain the roads, the government mafia charges us to use the roads. Are you sheep catching on yet? Why do they do this? Because they own you and you let them keep owning you. We will soon see 6 bucks for a gallon of gas. Then it all breaks. The lanes are criminal theft.
In all the comments nobody talks about the reduction of a lane for the non-paying.
Removing 25% or 20% of available lanes it a huge problem to traffic flow.
Now that they have created a major traffic backup, they will sell us a soloution to the problem.
Excellent point. “One lane” doesn’t sound so bad. 20-25% of lanes puts this in the proper perspective. But this is a punitive program, rather than trying to encourage drivers already being squeezed from all sides.