Area commuters can learn more about state plans to extend high occupancy toll lanes, or HOT lanes, to Hamilton Mill Road in Gwinnett County at public meetings over the next couple of weeks.

The 10-mile project, running along Interstate 85 and beginning at Old Peachtree Road, also involves construction of a bridge at Interstate 985, which cuts through North Gwinnett, then Hall County en route to Gainesville.

Teri Pope, district spokeswoman for the Georgia Department of Transportation, has said that bridges on Express Lanes — as they are formally called — are just structures “with a specified use.”

There’s “nothing special about their design or construction,” she said.

The HOT lanes now run between Old Peachtree Road in Gwinnett County and Chamblee-Tucker Road in DeKalb County.

They enable drivers who have a “Peach Pass” sticker, or transponder, fixed to their windshield to travel without the congestion of other lanes but for a toll based on the level of traffic snarl.

Fees are waived for those driving motorcycles, alternative-fuel cars with proper license plates and vehicles carrying three or more people.

Unlike the existing HOT lanes on I-85, the Express Lanes from Old Peachtree to Hamilton Mill Road will involve building new lanes, rather than converting existing high occupancy vehicle, or HOV, lanes.

“This will add new capacity to the corridor while providing options for reliable trip times,” states the DOT.

The first public meeting is set for 4-7 p.m. Thursday in the Atrium Gallery at the Gwinnett Center, 6400 Sugarloaf Parkway, Duluth.

The second meeting is scheduled for 4-7 p.m. March 28 at the Braselton Police and Municipal Court Building.

The DOT is developing the Express Lane extension “in an effort to provide commuters with a more reliable, free-flow commute option that will complement the state’s multi-modal approach to managing traffic demand,” it states in a fact sheet on the project.

Plans call for a draft environmental assessment to be completed by December and another public hearing in the spring of 2014.

The project could go out to bid in spring 2015, with construction starting in the fall of that year and the new lanes open to traffic in 2017, according to the DOT.

The initial I-85 Express Lanes opened in October 2011 to a cool reception.

At first, they were sparingly used, creating even more congestion along I-85. Motorists also criticized them, saying they resented a toll system on a road that’s already paid for.

The clamor quickly reached the ears of Gov. Nathan Deal, who moved to lower the toll rates to encourage more drivers to use the lanes.

As time went by, use has picked up.

Numbers provided by the State Road and Tollway Authority, which operates the lanes, show that average weekday trips had jumped to 16,916 in September 2012 from 7,273 in October 2011.

And monthly trips had jumped to 429,964 from 159,799.

The number of monthly trips in January was 401,183, with data reflecting “a reduction in overall traffic during the winter holiday,” according to the SRTA’s Feb. 19 travel data report.