Passes & Canyons Blog

When Colorado opened its first high-occupancy vehicle (HOV) lanes it was easy: if you were on a motorcycle you could use them and you did not have to pay. There was a brief period of confusion when they said even a motorcycle needed a transponder but thanks to the efforts of groups like ABATE of Colorado that requirement was eliminated.

In the meantime, though, there has been a proliferation of roads that are tolled in one way or another and because I was personally so confused over which ones I could ride on a bike I just quit using any of them. I decided it was time to clear up this fog, so that’s what I’ll do as best I can here.

One of the clearest bits of information is found in that image here of a portion of a chart found at https://www.codot.gov/programs/expresslanes/using-the-lanes. Basically, what this is saying is that all of the express lanes on I-25 and the lanes on US 36 to Boulder are free to motorcycles at all times. And they’re also saying that the express lanes on I-70 into the mountains are tolled no matter what vehicle you are in or on. E-470, of course, is a toll road for everyone.

Another good resource is this CDOT page: https://www.codot.gov/programs/expresslanes. On this page, in a section called WHERE EXPRESS LANES ARE, AND WHERE THEY’LL BE, there are links to maps showing you exactly what roads they’re talking about. I mean, heck, do you know what road they mean when they talk about the I-25 South Gap Project? I didn’t.

There is also a downloadable fact sheet here: https://www.codot.gov/programs/expresslanes/assets/motorcycles-express-lanes-fact-sheet.pdf

This is especially good except there seems to be a discrepancy. Here’s the map on the first page of this PDF.

See down there on C-470, where it’s blue. The legend says “ExpressToll account, pass and toll balance required to avoid higher license plate toll charges for motorcycles.” But the chart says C-470 is free for motorcycles. And on this page specifically about C-470 it says “Motorcyclists can use the Express Lanes for free without a pass.”

So I’m a bit confused, although I tend to suspect the map is wrong and you can ride C-470 with no issues. If anyone can confirm or refute this conclusively PLEASE let me know. Thanks.

I hope this clears most of this up for any of you who, like me, was unclear before. I guess I’ll start using the express lanes again.

Biker Quote for Today

All my friends have life goals . . . and I just want to go faster.

Tags: express lanes, HOV lanes

This entry was posted on Thursday, July 8th, 2021 at 11:34 am and is filed under Colorado motorcycle rides, Motorcycle legislation. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.