Cofiroute USA serves as the operator of this internationally acclaimed facility and has pioneered innovations in toll operations, integrated software solutions and customer relationship management.
Description
The 91 Express Lanes consists of 20 lane-miles within the median of the Riverside Freeway (SR-91) in Orange County, CA. The eastern terminus of the toll road is the Orange-Riverside County Line and the western terminus is the intersection with the Costa Mesa Freeway (SR-55).
The toll road is a limited access, open road facility with two lanes in each direction. A third lane in each direction is provided at the toll plazas for identification of high occupancy vehicles. Access is restricted to the east and west ends of the road and controlled by 3 feet tall, yellow delineators (channelizers) spaced 10 feet apart. There is one toll collection point (toll plaza) in each direction located approximately 6 miles from the western terminus.
Toll collection is all-electronic using radio frequency identification (RFID) technology. Each customer’s vehicle is required to have a transponder which is read by the toll collection equipment at the toll plaza. In addition, optical character recognition (OCR) cameras are used for enforcement.
History of Cofiroute USA’s Involvement
In December 1990, Cofiroute S.A. joined Peter Kiewit (later Level 3) and Granite Construction to create California Private Transportation Company (CPTC) to develop the 91 Express Lanes as one of the four demonstration projects created by California Assembly Bill 680. Debt financing was provided by a group of commercial and institutional lenders including Citicorp USA, Banque National de Paris, Societe Generale, Deutsche Bank, and CIGNA Investments. The award-winning project was opened in December 1995 for cost of $135 million.
During the development and start up phases of the 91 Express Lanes, the Cofiroute team was responsible for project management, initial implementation and on-going enhancements of the Electronic Toll and Traffic Management (ETTM) system. After the opening, the Cofiroute team acted as the primary operator responsible for all aspects of toll operations including; project management, customer service and account management, system and equipment maintenance, facility maintenance, roadside services, violation processing and marketing. As the first toll road in California that was financed, owned and operated by a private developer, the 91 Express Lanes was not free from controversy. Nevertheless, during its seven years of operation by CPTC, the 91 Express Lanes proved to be a success both financially and as a traffic management solution. The number of customer accounts grew to over 170,000 accounts, representing 40,000 trips per day and generating $25 million dollars in annual toll revenues.
Internal business issues within CPTC and external political challenges, primarily from Riverside County, led to the eventual sale of the 91 Express Lanes franchise to Orange County Transportation Authority (OCTA). In April 2002, OCTA reached an agreement in concept to purchase the private toll road. In September 2002, Assembly Bill 1010 allowed OCTA to purchase the franchise from CPTC for a price of $207.5 million. OCTA took possession of the 91 Express Lanes on January 3, 2003.
Since 2003, Cofiroute USA has continued to provide world-class toll operation services to OCTA. Cofiroute USA’s experience as an owner and operator of the 91 Express Lanes allowed us to offer OCTA unique insight into the challenges related to running a day-to-day toll operation. This partnership has been crucial as OCTA implemented the necessary changes to the operations and systems required of a public-sector owner.
An example has been the implementation and management of the OCTA-approved toll policy. CPTC developed the unique type of congestion pricing for the 91 Express Lanes that is still used today. This pricing controls the flow of traffic by day and time of day by assuming the facility is limited to the number of vehicles that can be on the lanes during any one hour and still maintain predictable free flow. The policy also assumes motorists will choose to travel certain hours based on need, convenience and price sensitivity. Therefore, CPTC increased tolls for specific hours when traffic approached the “breakdown” volume (the volume at which free flow would become unpredictable) by an amount determined by market analysis to provide an incentive for commuters to self regulate travel, changing travel times or patterns to choose less expensive shoulder hours, or traveling the 91 Express Lanes on less crowded days. OCTA maintained the basic congestion pricing premise but developed a modified toll policy more specifically designed for a government facility.
The strength of the relationship between OCTA and Cofiroute USA was demonstrated in 2005 when a new contract was signed, and again in 2009 when Cofiroute USA was selected for new operating contracts which have extended and expanded its role as operator of the 91 Express Lanes.
91 Express Lanes Traffic
Live Traffic
Webcam
For more information on the 91 Express Lanes, please visit www.91expresslanes.com.
