GA 400
Atlanta’s commuters rely heavily on the GA 400 Extension to facilitate commutes between work and home. Completed in 1993, the GA 400 extension got its start with funding through the 1987 Federal Highway Act, which provided $98 million for a “High Technology Demonstration Project” to bring electronic toll collection (ETC) using automated vehicle identification to the area. It was the first project of its kind in the United States. Today, about 119,000 people use the 6.2-mile system every day. SRTA brings convenience to motorists by offering the option of electronic toll collection or ETC. Approximately 41% percent of all vehicles traveling GA 400 use the windshield-mounted “Cruise Card,” for cashless payment of tolls.
The average weekday revenue collected at the toll plaza on GA 400 is approximately $59,000.00 per day.
All tolls collected are used to pay down bond debt, operate and maintain the road, and assist in financing SRTA’s overall operations. SRTA’s Board, which is chaired by the Governor, is responsible for the accounting of these funds and annually adopts a budget allocating all revenue in order to ensure safe and efficient operations of the system.
The final bond payment for GA 400 is scheduled for July 2011. The lease agreement between the Georgia Department of Transportation (GDOT) and SRTA authorizing tolling of GA 400 expires in January 2012(six months after final bond payment).
Georgia 400 Institutional Analysis
This study examined the feasibility of moving from a fixed-toll system to a variable-toll system on the tolled portion of Georgia 400. The study team analyzed current traffic conditions, queuing times at the Toll Plaza, and market survey responses to assess whether moving to the variable-toll system would mitigate the bottleneck at the Toll Plaza.