GWINNETT COUNTY, Ga.,None — State road officials say during the morning rush hour, Interstate 85 toll lanes are now at capacity.
Capacity is the maximum numbers of vehicles the State Road and Tollway Authority hoped to see in the lanes per hour to maintain the lane moving at 45mph.
SRTA is calling this a sign of success but drivers who talked to Channel 2's Kerry Kavanaugh found their commutes weren't so successful.
Toll lanes have been a part of the I-85 commute for almost two months.
And for two months, commuters who don't use the lanes have voiced the same complaints.
"It's just piling everybody up," commuter Israel Batista said.
But this week state road officials announced they've reached a milestone when HOT lanes reached intended capacity was 1,200 to 14,00 vehicles per hour during the peak morning hours.
It was a sentiment echoed by the Governor's office.
Spokesman Briand Ross sent Channel 2 Action News a statement saying, "The lanes are now at capacity during the rush hour, which is the intended purpose of the effort. People are using them."
But commuters aren't ready to cheer.
"It's great for the people in those lanes. For everybody else it's terrible," Batista said.
"85 is always going to be congested; it's just now there a reason for people to pay more money," commuter Michael Bigsby said.
Shortly after the HOT lanes opened, Gov. Nathan Deal had capped the toll at $3.05 one way.
It's unclear if increased capacity will affect the cap.
"Since they're at capacity that probably means the people that want to be in the HOT lanes, they're going charge extra for them just to get over in that lane," commuter Jessica Rogers said.
WSBTV
