ATLANTA — State leaders are betting private companies can build new express lanes — and pay for them.
In exchange, international highway developers will collect tolls for decades on some of Georgia’s busiest highways
Channel 2’s Michael Doudna dug into the deals to understand how the public-private partnerships work and how the new lanes could change the daily commute of thousands of Georgia drivers.
The first deal of its kind laid out the plans for an express lane project on Georgia 400, which started construction this year. Next month, the state will pick one of three finalists hoping to build and operate tolled express lanes on the east side of I-285.
Tim Matthews directs the private-public-partnership division at the Georgia Department of Transportation.
He explained how the new approach could let the state avoid putting the cost of building new lanes onto taxpayers directly.
“We get more than we can afford when we go that way,” Matthews said.
Matthews said opening toll lanes can provide reliable trip times for paying drivers and transit services while freeing up capacity in the free lanes at the same time.
State leaders like him are hoping express lanes can be a solution to congestion problems across the Atlanta metro area, where drivers lose about 75 hours sitting in traffic each year.
“It was a nightmare, you know,” DeKalb County driver Vern Bliss said. “One hour minimum each way.”
And Bliss isn’t the only one stuck behind the wheel. Every day, thousands of drivers fight a steady stream of brake lights as time slips away.
“I think the easy answer here is everyone benefits, right?” Matthews said.
But in other states, these partnerships have run into problems.
In North Carolina, toll prices have doubled the original projections, and the high prices have left the toll roads with little traffic, even during the most congested times.
“Tough times, not everyone can afford it,” John Zaravelis said. He said his typical toll costs on the I-77 express lane there climbed from $30 per month to around $160 in just a few years.
But with more congested roadways and higher demand, Georgia officials say Atlanta’s traffic system isn’t the same here as it is in North Carolina.
They say Georgia’s contracts have additional protections that can help the state’s drivers avoid similar price hikes.
“There are guardrails in the contract that look at affordability, access, and the needs of people who depend on this corridor,” Ericka Bayonne said.
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Bayonne is the chief communications officer for the State Road and Tollway Authority, the state body that has the final say over which developer gets chosen to build and collect tolls on the express lanes coming to I-285.
Bayonne pointed out that rather than only being available to drivers, the express lanes on I-285 will provide opportunities for transit expansion and registered carpool vans to take advantage of the more reliable travel times.
But at the end of the day, the developer isn’t building any of these multibillion-dollar projects out of charity.
The contracts allow the private developer to set toll prices based on a formula.
That formula will respond to the actual conditions in the express lanes, measuring how many vehicles use the lanes and how fast they’re able to travel.
Whenever the express lanes fall below 45 miles per hour, the toll company can raise rates to discourage congestion and get the lane moving.
The formula also takes into account key data about Georgia’s economy to allow the cap on tolls to evolve with the realities of growth and inflation.
GDOT and SRTA leaders say everyone benefits, including drivers who never pay a toll.
They pointed to state data showing over 1.7 million free trips were completed in 2025 by buses and carpools.
But when asked during a remote Zoom interview, Matthews did not provide data that could show that existing express lanes reduced congestion in the free lanes.
And with money tight for many families, some worry the tolled express lanes could contribute to further disparity between those who can afford the toll lanes and those who can’t.
“The tolls come from us,” Bliss said. “It just becomes a cost of living which we’re all having to get used to whether we like it or not.”
In the end, GDOT is betting private companies can help build the metro out of its congestion problems, giving drivers a choice to sit in traffic or pay a private company to skip ahead.
“It’s really about the value of time,” Bayonne said. “The people who will choose the express lane are choosing to want to get to work on time, right?”
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