San Diego toll road to charge truckers triple

San Diego toll road to charge truckers triple Commercial drivers taking advantage of a new 10-mile-long express toll road stretching from San Diego to the California/Mexico border will be charged three times the typical commuter fee, the toll road operator has announced.
   Vehicles with five axles will be charged $11.25 to travel the length of the South Bay Expressway when the toll road opens in the summer. Cars, light trucks and SUVs will be charged a $3.75 cash rate for the same distance, according to the toll road operator's Web site. Trucks with three or four axles will pay double the commuter vehicle rate.
   A company called California Transportation Ventures is financing and building the $411 million project and will operate it for 35 years. In 2041, the toll road will be turned over to Caltrans. The toll rates and increases are at the discretion of the operator until 2041.
   Proposals for the highway have been on the state government drawing board since 1959 but lack of public funding had stalled any progress. A final route for the road was planned in 1991 by the state government and the San Diego Expressway Limited Partnership, but a collapse in the funding at that time prompted the state to seek funding from the private sector and from federal grants.
   The South Bay Expressway project differs from other toll road projects because the road will be privately owned rather than leased from a state government.