Drivers on three new highway segments with express lanes will face $75 fines starting Jan. 1 if they get caught illegally cutting in or out of the lanes.
The state will begin enforcement on Interstate 70 between I-25 and Chambers Road, I-25 between Monument and Castle Rock and U.S. 36 between Federal Boulevard and Table Mesa Drive.
During 16 days of an enforcement grace period this past month, CDOT caught 23,873 drivers violating the rules along those previously unenforced express lane segments — an average daily rate of 1,492. That’s roughly 2.7% of users in those express lanes, CDOT spokesman Tim Hoover said.
Enforcement relies on technology involving cameras and road sensors that determine whether drivers cross the solid white line to enter or leave the express lanes.
Drivers were caught crossing lines on roads already using the technology an average of 1,593 times per day this past year and issued $65.4 million in fines, according to state data reviewed by the Denver Post. Fines start at $75 but double to to $150 if not paid in 20 days.
State records show drivers haven’t paid 42% of the penalties.
CDOT’s commercial Colorado Transportation Investment Office collected $91.3 million in toll revenue and fines (about $35 million) over the last year– money that funds road maintenance and pays down state debt from past highway expansion projects.
“We will collect more in fines than we did in the first year,” Hoover said. “We don’t have an estimate of what that will be.” If the agency’s Safety and Tolling Enforcement Program (STEP) works as planned, he said, “drivers will change their behavior and thus avoid incurring a fine. But we don’t know how quickly that will occur and to what degree.”
CDOT began installing toll express lanes in 2006, opening a route that included a concrete barrier in the middle of I-25 between downtown Denver and the interchange with U.S. 36 several miles to the north. Between 2012 and 2022, CDOT added five more toll roads – one along U.S. 36, two on stretches of I-25 north of Denver, one on the C-470 beltway, and one on I-70 in the mountains west of Idaho Springs. These are separate from the E-470 and Northwest Parkway beltway toll roads run by public highway authorities around metro Denver.
CDOT officials have proposed a lane along I-270, the frequently jammed connector highway north of Denver.
Agency spokesman Matt Inzeo said CDOT will improve express lanes by adding more places where drivers can enter and exit legally.
“We’ve made and will continue to be making modifications to our system. For example, we have completed making ingress and egress zones longer at four locations on the I-25 north project between Loveland and Fort Collins,” and similar changes will be made on I-25 in Westminster, Inzeo said.
Changes also will include added entry space on C-470 near the intersection with Yosemite Street and a re-worked C-470 eastbound exit at Lucent Boulevard, he said.
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