Environment

New Express Lanes Along I-15 In San Diego

By Ed Joyce / Reporter

Published October 11, 2011 at 10:21 AM PDT

This story was published more than 13 years ago.

Agency Offers Gas Card To Solo Drivers

The San Diego Association of Governments is trying to get more solo drivers to use express lanes on Interstate-15 in San Diego.

The San Diego Association of Governments (SANDAG) is trying to get more solo drivers to use express lanes on Interstate-15 in San Diego.

Samuel Johnson oversees SANDAG's FasTrak program.

He said drivers signing up for a new account by November 20 will get a free $10 gas card.

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Johnson said the incentive is intended to get more people to use the new 16-mile stretch of I-15 express lanes between Kearny Mesa and Rancho Bernardo.

"By the end of the year we're going to extend the express lanes to 20 miles," Johnson said. "So we got a new product out there and we want people to be aware of it. And we think if we can entice them to try it they will like it and keep using it."

Johnson said the north segment, which will open later this year, will complete the 20-mile stretch of Express Lanes from State Route 163 to State Route 78.

"Our focus is on making the overall I-15 corridor work better," Johnson said. "So if we can get solo drivers to use the express lanes in addition to our carpool and vanpool users, we can better move people through the corridor."

FasTrak allows individual drivers to pay a fee to use the Express Lanes. Two or more in a vehicle and vanpools can use the lanes for free.

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Ed Joyce was the environment reporter and afternoon news anchor for KPBS-FM. Before joining KPBS, he worked as an editor/columnist with Copley News Service in San Diego. Ed has an extensive background in newspaper, radio, web and TV journalism. After graduating with a B.A. in Communications from the University of Washington in Seattle, Ed began a career in broadcast journalism. His work has included stints in public broadcasting, commercial broadcasting and education -- working as an affiliate professor of communication and reporter at the University of Idaho and Washington State University in Pullman, Wash. During the past 20 years he has worked in radio, TV and print as a news reporter, anchor, writer, editor and producer. Along the way he has won numerous awards for general news reporting, newswriting, feature and issue reporting and breaking news reporting from The Associated Press, The Society of Professional Journalists, San Diego Press Club and other organizations. During the mid-1990s, while working for Oregon Public Broadcasting, he was a frequent contributor to National Public Radio, including a feature report on the memorial service for 14 U.S. Forest Service "hotshots" who died fighting a wildfire in Colorado (the crew was based in a central Oregon town). He’s also filed reports with Marketplace, KQED’s California Report and Climate Watch and with national and regional networks throughout the United States. At KPBS, Ed continues his contributions to National Public Radio and other national and regional news organizations. He has won awards from the Society of Professional Journalists and San Diego Press Club for his environmental reporting at KPBS-FM-TV and for producing and anchoring radio newscasts. In 2007 he was selected a National Press Foundation fellow for Understanding Violent Weather II program. The seminars were held at the National Weather Center in Norman, Okla. In 2008 he spoke at a UC San Diego conference on U.S. National Security as part of the school’s Institute on Global Conflict and Cooperation. Ed led a discussion with the 18 foreign government officials and academics about the political debate over climate change. In 2010, Ed was elected to a three-year term on the board of the San Diego Press Club.

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