Interstate 5 between downtown Sacramento and the airport just took a big step closer to becoming a pay-to-play corridor, as regional transportation boards signed off on key early moves for a new set of toll lanes.
The plan on the table would add one tolled, “managed” lane in each direction along roughly 12 miles of I-5, from the Highway 50 interchange near downtown up to Sacramento International Airport. The project would widen the freeway in certain stretches, and if the stars of funding, engineering and bureaucracy align, construction could start as early as fall 2029, with lanes potentially opening by spring 2032.
This week, the Sacramento Transportation Authority voted to put real money behind the idea, authorizing $880,000 for the Capital Area Regional Tolling Authority to complete a traffic and revenue study and approving another $400,000 for consultants to chase grants, according to The Sacramento Bee. CARTA’s board quickly followed suit, approving the funding agreement and awarding a contract to C&M Associates to conduct the study, which moves the project into a more technical, number-crunching phase.
What the lanes would look like
Caltrans has been testing nine different options for the Sac-5 Managed Lanes project, ranging from doing nothing at all to fully tolled express lanes, according to Caltrans. The approach currently in the lead is a HOT 3+ setup, where vehicles with three or more occupants can use the lane for free while everyone else pays a toll…