The free ride is over in the Interstate 70 westbound mountain express lane. Starting this week, driving in the peak-period shoulder lane will cost you — up to $9 if you have an ExpressToll transponder.
, in testing for months, mirrors an older one on the eastbound side of I-70. That one opened in late 2015 in the heavily congested corridor between the U.S. 40 exit at Empire Junction and the Veterans Memorial Tunnels, east of Idaho Springs.
Tolling on the westbound lane was set to begin at 7 a.m. Thursday, a CDOT spokeswoman said, in a prelude of its usual weekend operating schedule. Both express lanes are the result of an agreement between the Colorado Department of Transportation and the Federal Highway Administration. The FHWA waived certain interstate highway standards to allow CDOT to squeeze them into the left shoulders, reducing expansion costs; the westbound project cost about $70 million.
But there’s a trade-off: the express lanes are extra narrow, and the FHWA limits the number of hours and days CDOT can open them each year. They’re typically open Fridays through Sundays during ski season and the summer travel season, along with holidays.
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