🚲 Mobility

Metro ExpressLanes — Dynamically Priced I-110 & I-10 Lanes

Metro converted 25 miles of carpool lanes on the I-110 (November 2012) and I-10 (February 2013) into lanes solo drivers may buy into. Unlike a cordon charge it prices one lane, not an area, and the rate is recalculated from live detector data — $0.10 per mile off-peak to a $3.10 cap. A federal demonstration; SB 1298 made it permanent in September 2014.

Live 📅 since 2012 ✔ Editor-reviewed

✔ Reviewed by the 1001 Smart Cities editorial desk · 🔎 Last verified 2026-07-26

🚲 Mobility Congestion pricing Traffic management Sensors & IoT Public transport

📊 Impact

The US DOT national evaluation found gross tolls of $18,704,961 on the I-110 and $8,918,985 on the I-10 in the first 16 months, but also that vehicle-miles travelled rose 30.5% on the I-10 and 6.6% on the I-110 while fuel economy fell, at an estimated $104,566,154 in extra fuel. Metro counts more than 340 million trips and over $100 million reinvested in the two corridors by 2022, including 42 net-toll-revenue grants worth $47.6 million.

🎓 Lesson

Pricing one lane is politically easier than pricing a cordon, and it can be locked in by statute — but it sells a faster trip rather than less driving: the federal evaluation found traffic and fuel use rose on both corridors.

Evidence📊 Independent

Scale🗺️ Regional

CostUS$210.6M federal Congestion Reduction Demonstration grant

FundingUS DOT Congestion Reduction Demonstration grant ($210.6M); now toll-funded

Sources

↗ Metro ExpressLanes — Frequently Asked Questions (operator)How the price is set: 'we gather data in real-time from hundreds of detectors installed throughout the ExpressLanes and use that information to calculate what the toll rates should be at any given moment.' Also the occupancy rules (I-110 free for 2+ at all hours; I-10 free for 3+ at all hours, 2+ only off-peak), the FasTrak Flex switchable transponder still required to claim the carpool exemption, and Pay-As-You-Go for drivers without one (toll plus a $9 processing fee). Metro states elsewhere on the same site that rates are set to hold at least 45 mph as often as possible; that page would not render for us, so the target is noted here rather than claimed in the entry.

↗ Metro ExpressLanes — toll rate increase, 6 October 2025 (operator)Current rate band: maximum raised 'from $3.00 per mile to $3.10 per mile'; minimums of $0.35 per mile peak and $0.10 per mile off-peak unchanged. Peak is 5am-9am and 4pm-7pm on weekdays; the lanes run 'in the center lanes of I-10 and I-110, seven days per week, 24 hours per day.'

↗ Los Angeles Congestion Reduction Demonstration ExpressLanes Program — National Evaluation Report, US DOT (independent federal evaluation)Schroeder, Klein, Smith, Turnbull, Balke, Burris, Songchitruksa, Pessaro, Saunoi-Sandgren, Schreffler and Joy; FHWA/FTA, 1 August 2015, FHWA-JPO-14-126. Confirms the $210.6m Congestion Reduction Demonstration grant and the conversion of 25 miles of HOV lanes on the I-10 and I-110, and sets out the '4Ts' framework (tolling, transit, TDM, technology) the demonstration was evaluated against.

↗ US DOT ITS Deployment Evaluation — toll revenue findingCarrying sentence for the revenue figures: 'Gross toll revenue of the I-10 ExpressLanes was $8,918,985 and I-110 ExpressLanes was $18,704,961 in the first 16 months of HOT lane operation.' Sourced to the national evaluation report.

↗ US DOT ITS Deployment Evaluation — VMT and fuel findingCarrying sentences for the counterweight: VMT rose '30.5% on I-10 and 6.6 on I-110'; fuel economy fell 'from 18.4 to 17.6 mpg on I-10' and 'from 17.9 to 17.5 mpg on I-110'; 'The increased fuel consumption is estimated to cost $104,566,154.' A companion finding from the same evaluation states net emissions rose 26 to 82 percent on the I-10 and 6 to 21 percent on the I-110; that page returned 403 to us and the figure is therefore kept out of the entry's impact.

↗ US DOT ITS Deployment Evaluation — transit travel-time benefit'Deployment of HOT lanes on I-10 and I-110 in Los Angeles was projected to provide transit riders a travel time benefit of $9,186,074 over a 10-year period.' A projection, not a measurement — hence not used as an impact figure.

↗ SB 1298 (Hernandez, 2014) — bill text, California LegislatureThe instrument that made the lanes permanent: approved by the Governor on 21 September 2014, repealing and adding Section 149.9 of the Streets and Highways Code, replacing an authorisation that would have expired 15 January 2015 and extending the programme indefinitely. Also the statutory basis for the reinvestment claim: after reimbursing operating and maintenance costs, 'remaining revenue to be used for improvements to the transportation corridor.'

↗ LA Metro — ExpressLanes 10th anniversary (operator)Operator figures as of late 2022: 'more than 340 million trips'; 'more than $100 million has been reinvested in those freeway corridors'; '42 net toll revenue grants totaling $47.6 million since 2014'; 'To date, 23,884 low-income accounts have been opened.' Self-reported and not independently audited.

↗ Metro ExpressLanes — Low-Income Assistance Plan (operator)The equity mechanism in full: LA County residency plus household income at or below thresholds from $31,920 (single) to $111,440 (family of eight); benefit is 'a one-time $25 credit when they set up their FasTrak account' and a waived $1 monthly maintenance fee. Enrolment is constrained: 'Low Income Assistance Plan accounts can only be opened at a Metro ExpressLanes Service Center' — one office, in Torrance.

↗ LA Metro — I-105 ExpressLanes project (operator)Currency: the third corridor broke ground in May 2025; Segment 1 (I-405 to Central Avenue) is due to open in 2028, Segments 2 and 3 to start in mid-2026 and finish in 2029.

↗ CBS News Los Angeles — Metro permanently decriminalizes ExpressLanes use without a transponder (press)Independent confirmation of the Pay-As-You-Go shift: driving the lanes without a transponder is now billed by mail as toll plus fee rather than treated as a violation.

📎 Cite this project

1001 Smart Cities (2026). “Metro ExpressLanes — Dynamically Priced I-110 & I-10 Lanes” — Los Angeles, United States. The Smart City Atlas. https://1001smartcities.org/projects/la-metro-expresslanes/ (last verified 2026-07-26). Data: CC BY 4.0.

The underlying data is free to reuse with attribution — see the open data page.

🔗 Related projects

🇺🇸 Central Business District Tolling (Congestion Pricing) · New York City New York priced a whole cordon in 2025; LA priced two lanes in 2012 and left free ones alongside — easier to pass, and traffic still rose. 🇦🇪 Salik Dynamic Congestion Pricing · Dubai Both charge for the road rather than an area: Salik switches between fixed peak bands, LA recalculates from detectors minute by minute. 🇬🇧 TfL Lane Rental Scheme · London Two schemes that price a lane instead of a zone and plough the money back into the corridor: TfL bills diggers, LA bills solo drivers. 🇺🇸 SFpark Demand-Responsive Parking · San Francisco California's two demand-priced road assets, a year apart: SFpark reads kerb payments, ExpressLanes reads freeway detectors.

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Metro ExpressLanes — Dynamically Priced I-110 & I-10 Lanes

📊 Impact

🎓 Lesson

Sources

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