GARDENA, Calif. — They call them freeways for a reason.
But one of the symbols of the American freeway — Interstate 110, which runs, or rather crawls, across central Los Angeles — is free no more. At precisely 10 p.m. Nov. 10, motorists faced a toll of up to $15.40 for the privilege of driving an 11-mile stretch of express lanes between Gardena and downtown Los Angeles.
In most parts of the country, it would be no big deal, hardly worth mentioning.
So never mind that tolls have been around as long as dirt roads and covered bridges, and that congestion pricing — as this is known — has become embraced by metropolises across the country to combat traffic and pollution. And never mind that its reach here is limited to lone drivers willing to pay up to $1.40 a mile, depending on traffic, for a money-back guarantee that their average speed will never drop below 45 mph.
This is the first toll in the history of Los Angeles County, a passage, as it were, and a jarring experience for a part of the country that has long celebrated the primacy of automobiles, not to mention the first syllable of the word “freeway."
“I’ve been living here my whole life," said S. Masani Jackson, as she waited on a 30-person line to buy the transponder required to enter the exclusive lanes. “And I have never had to pay for the 110 Freeway. It’s ridiculous."
Miguel Chavez, 26, who lives in downtown Los Angeles, asked the question that has been reverberating across the city: “What else are they going to start charging us for?"
Los Angeles County is only putting a toe in the water. The toll applies to 11 miles of road, with another 14 mile-stretch on Interstate 10 to open next year. It is a one-year pilot program, funded by the federal government. Carpoolers (which is defined, generously, as a vehicle carrying two passengers), motorcycles and buses continue to ride for free. And the county has a nearby example to study, since congestion pricing began in neighboring Orange County in 1995.
Genevieve Giuliano, the director of the National Center for Metropolitan Transportation Research at the University of Southern California, said the increasing crush of traffic here, combined with cutbacks in federal highway construction funds, made these kinds of programs more urgent.
The tolls are the latest manifestation of a campaign by Los Angeles officials to challenge the primacy of the automobile to deal with congestion that has long been a threat to the city’s vitality. Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa has advocated a sharp expansion of the region’s subway system and encouraged the use of bicycles.
“People want relief," said Mark Ridley-Thomas, a Los Angeles County supervisor. “There’s nothing complicated about it. Considering that LA distinguishes itself as the traffic congestion capital of the nation, we felt obligated to innovate, experiment, whatever we can do to make driving on the freeways more bearable."
Richard Galvaz, who lives in El Monte, said the toll was a fair price to escape what can be a 45-minute drive.
“It’s worth it if you’re in a hurry to get home," he said. “You got to pay the price. If not, get stuck in traffic. If you can’t afford it, take the bus."
The $20 million expected to be raised annually by the toll is going to expand bus lines in the region. Still, in a city marked by stark differences in wealth, the notion of being able to pay to escape traffic rankles.
“Look where this is: South Central," Jackson, the longtime resident, said. “Why don’t they do it on the West Side?"
There are similar programs in Minneapolis, Denver, Seattle, Salt Lake City and Houston, and, most recently, on part of the Beltway in Washington, D.C. Still, the relative modesty of the Los Angeles program has stirred questions about its ultimate effectiveness.
“I’m not too optimistic about major, big results for the Los Angeles project," said Robert Poole, director of transportation at the Reason Foundation, a libertarian policy research organization. “I hope I’m wrong. But I suspect that most of the users will be freebies. They won’t collect very much revenue. And if only a small percentage of people are paying the charge, the impact on congestion is going to be small."
