The poll found nearly 70% of U.S. drivers would pay $5 on average to save 15 minutes on the road. Matthew Click is with the company that released the survey - HNTB Corporation, a firm that promotes infrastructure projects.
"You have a transponder in your car and all of the tolling is all electronic, you don't stop, there's no toll booths and you drive under a gantry and it reads your transponder and deducts that toll amount from a pre-paid toll account."
But opponents say tolled lanes create a kind of class system
on the road. Terry Preston is with the Environmental Council of
Sacramento.
"If you're wealthy enough you can zip on by traffic and
just forego it all and this is odd on what's supposed to be a
public road. Public lanes ought to be available for everyone at the
same pace."
Preston says the way to handle traffic congestion is to invest
in public transit…like light rail and buses.
Tolled lanes are already in operation or about to be
implemented on Interstate-880 and State Route 237 in Santa Clara
County and I-680 in Alameda County.