{"id":10395,"date":"2021-07-08T11:34:06","date_gmt":"2021-07-08T17:34:06","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/motorcyclecolorado.com\/blog\/?p=10395"},"modified":"2021-07-07T16:36:08","modified_gmt":"2021-07-07T22:36:08","slug":"making-sense-of-express-lanes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/motorcyclecolorado.com\/blog\/making-sense-of-express-lanes\/","title":{"rendered":"Making Sense Of Express Lanes"},"content":{"rendered":"

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<\/a> that requirement was eliminated.<\/p>\n

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Here’s what motorcycles can ride for free.<\/em><\/strong><\/p><\/div>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.<\/p>\n

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<\/a>. 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.<\/p>\n

Another good resource is this CDOT page: https:\/\/www.codot.gov\/programs\/expresslanes<\/a>. 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.<\/p>\n

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

This is especially good except there seems to be a discrepancy. Here’s the map on the first page of this PDF.<\/p>\n

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This map does not agree with the other information in one spot.<\/em><\/strong><\/p><\/div>\n

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<\/a> it says “Motorcyclists can use the Express Lanes for free without a pass.”<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

Biker Quote for Today<\/h3>\n

All my friends have life goals . . . and I just want to go faster.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[197,168],"tags":[719,718],"class_list":["post-10395","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-colorado-motorcycle-rides","category-motorcycle-legislation","tag-express-lanes","tag-hov-lanes"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/motorcyclecolorado.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10395","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/motorcyclecolorado.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/motorcyclecolorado.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/motorcyclecolorado.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/motorcyclecolorado.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10395"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/motorcyclecolorado.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10395\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10403,"href":"https:\/\/motorcyclecolorado.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10395\/revisions\/10403"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/motorcyclecolorado.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10395"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/motorcyclecolorado.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10395"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/motorcyclecolorado.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10395"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}