By Marc Fisher
Sunday, March 25, 2007; C01

Nobody asked you, you probably don't like it, and it could well cost you a bundle: Both Maryland and Virginia are charging full-steam ahead with plans to build Lexus lanes, the trendy new way to expand highways with sky-high tolls for the privilege of speeding past the regular Joes over in the slow lane.

Lexus lanes -- the experts say we must eschew such denigration of the affluent and instead call them HOT (high-occupancy toll) lanes -- are widely loathed by actual commuters everywhere they are proposed. Yet they're coming down the pike, and you can't do a thing about it. Why? Because the list of folks who think this is one fantabulous idea reads like a power map of the nation.

Big business loves the Lexus lane because it gets to build new highways, tell the government how high the tolls need to be and then -- ain't life grand? -- keep the toll dollars. Big government loves Lexus lanes because it gets to bow out of the road-building business and still take credit for fixing the transportation mess. Politicians love Lexus lanes because they get to dish out contracts on huge projects, and they needn't even raise taxes to have all that fun.

To make matters even lovelier for the folks in charge, they get to tout the views of experts who consider this the right and smart thing to do. Traffic engineer geeks love HOT lanes because they really do provide a faster trip for those willing to pay whatever it takes to get in the fast lane. Economics geeks love HOT lanes because they're a beautiful example of supply and demand in its essence. Read the professors on this, and HOT lanes start to sound like econ porn.

Even some environmentalists like HOT lanes on the theory that high tolls will discourage driving and that revenue from tolls can be steered toward transit projects.

So if all these smart people love Lexus lanes, what's the problem?

Drivers tend to hate the idea for three reasons: 1) Lexus lanes seem unfair to low- and middle-income commuters who can't afford to shell out the big bucks. In Virginia, where prices could vary according to traffic volume, planners say it could cost up to $42 per day roundtrip between Prince William County and the Pentagon on the HOT lanes scheduled to be built along Interstate 95.

2) Folks tend not to believe the new lanes would really save much time. After all, look how congested HOV lanes have become on I-95.

3) The structure of these deals, with private companies winning the right to profit off traditionally public infrastructure, sets off many people's stench meters. Because public dollars built almost all roads in the first place, exorbitant tolls feel like double taxation.

But in the HOT lanes industry, these hesitations are dismissed as evidence of popular ignorance. The peasants fail to recognize the true magnificence of the gift being bestowed upon them.

Texas A&M researchers studied the public response to HOT lane proposals and concluded that "in all states, public opinion was generally lukewarm."

But advocates for HOT lanes say these obstacles are easily overcome. All it takes is some expensive marketing (aimed at and -- swallow hard, now -- paid for by the taxpayer) and a cottage industry of consultants who specialize in selling unpopular policies. (The consultants say it's easier to overcome opposition where HOT lanes are part of a brand-new highway than where new lanes are added to an existing, toll-free road, as is envisioned in Maryland on I-270 and parts of the Capital Beltway and in Virginia on I-95 and I-395.)

In fact, HOT lane advocates have some good facts on their side. Jacking up tolls on express lanes during busier hours really does discourage enough motorists to assure a quick ride for those willing to shell out the bucks. And surveys in cities with HOT lanes show them to be generally popular once they're in service.

Traffic experts are confident they can overcome the fairness problem. In cities where HOT lanes have been available for some years now, "the users of the HOT lane look like the demographic profile of all the people who drive that corridor," says Texas A&M researcher David Ungemah. "Lower-income people will use the lanes, just not as frequently as high-income users."

Well, sure, if I really can't afford the HOT lane but the day care is going to charge me an onerous late fee, I might decide I have to hit the express one day. But at $42 a day, not many schoolteachers or secretaries are going to make a habit of it.

Actually, there is a way around the fairness issue, although no one has proposed it in either Virginia or Maryland: "If it's really about managing demand and not generating revenue, you could charge different rates for different people, based on their income," Ungemah says.

In San Francisco, a drive to put HOT lanes on the Bay Bridge failed, but part of the discussion was a proposal to give less affluent drivers access to Lexus lanes by giving them discounts, much as utility companies do. Those who qualify for cut-rate power could be issued transponders that would let them onto the HOT lane for a lower rate.

It'll never happen, of course, because the whole Lexus lane fad is based on a much simpler political concept, the one that says let's just shove it down their throats, and they'll come to like it.

E-mail:marcfisher@washpost.com