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Controversial HOT lanes filling with traffic, data shows
Deal thinks of lanes as a means to expand needed infrastructure
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Signs show the toll prices for the Peach Pass express lanes on Interstate 85 headed north outside of Atlanta in fall 2012, about a year after the lanes debuted. - photo by Michelle Boaen Jameson
Interstate 85’s high occupancy toll lanes didn’t excite metro Atlanta commuters when they debuted last Oct. 1, but they haven’t sat empty this past year either. Numbers provided by the State Road and Tollway Authority, which operates the lanes, show that average weekday trips have jumped to 16,916 in September from 7,273 last October. And monthly trips have jumped to 429,964 from 159,799.