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SALT LAKE CITY — Utah could be losing big money because some drivers are cheating the toll lane system.
UDOT Executive Director Carlos Braceras said last year they spent $840,000 to operate the toll lanes on I-15 but only collected $672,000 dollars in revenue.
"Our goal is to try and drive that differential down another $50,000 this year. We think we can get there," Braceras said.
About one in every eight cars in the express lane is breaking the law. It's no wonder when they see the cars going faster to the left.
"It's generally a five to six mile speed defferential, during the peak periods, that you see in the express lanes versus the general purpose lanes," Braceras said.
The 12 percent is down a bit from last year because of UHP bliztes. The annual report to the legislature showed 12 percent of the cars driving in the lane every day are in it illegally. 19 percent of the drivers pay a toll, 63 percent are carpoolers that can use it for free. The rest are clean fuel vehicles, buses or motorcycles that can also use it for free.
Braceras said they are working with the contractor that operates the transponders to close the funding gap but they could also get more money if people paid the toll to drive in the lane.
