Critical Connection
SBCTA’s first-ever tolling project to provide long-term congestion relief and improved quality of life for a rapidly growing and underserved region
DESIGNER
2025
I-10 in San Bernardino County, California, is a critical link, not only in the state’s transportation network, but also as the area’s primary transportation conduit to the rest of the nation. The corridor carries more than 263,000 vehicles every day. More than 20,000 of those are trucks.
Demand continues to grow. The County’s population has tripled to 2.1 million over the last four decades and is projected to jump by another half-million people in the next 20 years. Accompanying that growth will be an additional 370,000 vehicles registered in the County, according to U.S. Department of Transportation estimates. The upsurge will increase travel demands on the I-10 corridor between 36% and 60%.
Fifteen years ago, the San Bernardino County Transportation Authority — the agency responsible for advancing an efficient, multimodal transportation system for the County — recognized the pending traffic impacts and began considering the need to improve and possibly expand I-10.
“We were seeing congestion grow throughout the region,” said SBCTA Director of Project Delivery and Express Lanes Operations Kristi Lynn Harris. “Many of our residents commute to Los Angeles and Orange County for work. About 50% of the nation’s goods come through the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach and, when goods are then placed on container trucks, about 50% of those trucks drive the I-10 corridor in San Bernardino County. We began looking for a cost-effective and efficient solution to I-10 gridlock so we could provide people with an improved quality of life.”
SBCTA considered express lanes as a possible option. The agency completed feasibility studies, conducted hundreds of meetings with elected officials and the public and studied how express lanes could be implemented without inequitably affecting disadvantaged communities.
In 2017, after several years of rigorously analyzing the idea, SBCTA approved construction of San Bernardino County’s first express lanes — a 33-mile project from the Los Angeles County line to Redlands, California, that would expand the interstate freeway from 10 lanes to 12.
SBCTA divided the project into three phases to align with available funding. Measure I, a voter-approved, half-cent transportation sales tax that SBCTA administers, provided approximately $90 million for the project’s first 10 miles, which stretch from the Los Angeles County line to I-15. Additional funding came from federal, state and local sources.
A launch of firsts
The I-10 express lanes were SBCTA’s first design-build project, as well as its first tolling project. Based on HNTB’s extensive, national tolling project delivery experience, SBCTA selected the firm to provide project and construction management (PCM) for the express lanes’ design and construction.
“Agencies that serve counties around us – LA, Orange County, Riverside and San Diego farther south – have had toll facilities for years,” SBCTA Chief of Express Lanes Operations Philip Chu said. “This process was new to us, so we listened to their advice and relied heavily upon the HNTB team to guide us through the procurement and delivery processes.”
HNTB completed preliminary design of some project elements, procured the design-build contractor and toll services provider and oversaw civil construction, tolling system development and testing and organizational readiness activities.
The firm also created an implementation roadmap that defined how SBCTA would function as a tolling operator and identified all steps SBCTA, the consultant, contractor and project partners needed to take to successfully commence operations of a tolled facility. The actions then were documented in agreements, policies and operating rules. SBCTA customized its express lanes policy and its operational framework to align with the needs of the community.
Construction on the project’s first phase began in early 2020. A single new lane was constructed and combined with the existing HOV lane to provide two tolled express lanes in each direction.
“Our commitment was to a one-team approach,” said HNTB Tolling Manager Will Allen. “Because SBCTA and Caltrans established a 50-year lease that allowed SBCTA to design, construct and operate the express lanes within the I-10 right-of-way, Caltrans was a vital project partner. Every team member was focused on a unified purpose. SBCTA, Caltrans and the PCM team worked as a collective unit to advance and deliver the project.”
Carving out space in a busy corridor
A key challenge was building the express lanes in the middle of one of the most heavily traveled freeways in Southern California.
“A comprehensive maintenance of traffic plan was designed to maintain mobility during construction which was critical to project success,” said Alan Merrett, HNTB construction project manager. “After analyzing the corridor, we created staged work areas throughout the project corridor to facilitate construction activities while minimizing impacts to the local communities and travelling public.”
Studies showed that for a minimal reduction in average speed during peak periods they could eliminate the wrong-direction crossovers while reducing the number of lanes on the freeway from five in each direction to four in each direction. It opened work areas allowing the contractor to be more productive by working concurrently on the central express lanes and the outside widening and retaining walls while providing a four-month reduction in the overall construction schedule.
I-10 Express Lanes by the Numbers
- 10 miles of highway widening
- 8 bridge widenings
- 8 bridge replacements
- 5 bridge improvements
- 10 interchanges reconstructed or ramps modified
- Partial pavement rehabilitation
- 68 structures, including box culverts, retaining walls and sound walls
Another challenge was trying to keep the project on schedule while navigating through COVID and increasing material and labor costs due to inflation over the last three or four years. HNTB contributed value engineering to achieve cost savings, as in the case of a sewer that wasn’t discovered until after construction was already underway.
“An alternative HNTB identified for moving the sewer saved about $5 million,” Merrett said. “We were the boots on the ground who recognized and developed simple solutions to complex problems by using our engineering expertise. Ultimately, our solution resulted in significant cost and schedule savings.”
“Being responsible for the construction, the most important thing we’ve learned is that we need a team that understands what we’re trying to achieve and has a path forward,” Khalid Bazmi, SBCTA corridor manager said. “HNTB has done a great job managing that effort and communicating with local jurisdictions, federal and local agencies, California Highway Patrol, Caltrans, the contractor and the subcontractors.”
Best-in-class tolling
While SBCTA built on best practices from other tolling projects, it also didn’t shy away from new approaches. Notably, the agency determined it didn’t need to create its own customer service or payment processing center.
“Considering that other organizations already have these services and have handled them well for decades, we saw no need to build our own back office and manage our own facility,” Chu said. “We could partner with another agency to provide those services for us.”
That decision saved the agency millions of dollars. HNTB supported SBCTA in implementing its cooperative agreement with the Transportation Corridor Agencies, operators of The Toll Roads of Orange County, to provide customer service and toll payment processing on the new I-10 express lanes, which use FasTrak, California’s electronic toll collection system. The agreement improves transaction processing efficiencies and reduces costs for both TCA and SBCTA.
Commitment to equity
SBCTA was committed to developing a forward-thinking equity program that would lower the barriers to I-10 express lanes use. The agency chose not to require prepaid FasTrak accounts for those who use the I-10 express lanes, eliminated maintenance fees for people who sign up for accounts through TCA and provided multiple ways for unbanked customers to pay tolls.
“The I-10 express lanes are the first in the state to offer the option to drive on the corridor and then pay online,” said SBCTA Chief of Express Lanes Philip Chu. “Unbanked individuals can type in their license plate numbers or access a QR code and pay using their phones or use a ‘pay near me’ feature to pay tolls in cash at CVS, Walgreens or another nearby retail location.”
SBCTA’s equity program includes a one-time $20 toll credit for drivers who meet an income qualification. The credit is added to a FasTrak account. Program participants have the option to use part of the credit to purchase a switchable transponder, which allows them to declare the number of people in their vehicle when they use the express lanes. Motorists with three or more occupants travel free.”
The equity program also allows disabled veterans who reside in San Bernardino County to travel on the corridor at no cost.
“From a tolling perspective, SBCTA’s program can be considered best-in-class in southern California,” Allen said. “Starting with a blank sheet allowed for more creativity, brought together best practices from across the industry and built on them to make SBCTA a tolling leader in the area.”
SBCTA jointly operates the corridor with Caltrans, with SBCTA managing the express lanes and Caltrans continuing to oversee the general-purpose lanes. SBCTA co-located with Caltrans in the District 8 Traffic Management Center, which also houses San Bernardino County’s 911 call center. A substantial new video wall and traffic controller workstations allow the two agencies to operate the corridor efficiently, side by side.
“In that large theater, SBCTA has operators monitoring CCTV cameras to make sure the express lanes are flowing smoothly,” Allen said. “If there are incidents, SBCTA can coordinate quickly with Caltrans and California Highway Patrol. SBCTA is the first California agency to embrace regional partnerships at that level, leveraging both Caltrans and Toll Roads of Orange County operations to create economies of scale.”
Long-term mobility
The I-10 express lanes project promised congestion relief. Opened in August 2024, it has delivered significant benefits to people who live in communities along the corridor, providing a new option for mobility into and out of Los Angeles and improved access to I-15.
“The project’s purpose was to provide a reliable route for people traveling through that 10-mile segment,” Allen said. “The thoughtful addition of express lane operations benefitted long-term congestion management for a rapidly growing region, ensuring continuous mobility for the corridor and longstanding benefit to the area community.”
SBCTA’s successful first express lanes project paved the way for the second, 11-mile project phase, which is now in design, and for 8 miles of express lanes on the most-congested portion of the I-15 corridor, which began construction in February 2025.
Alan Merrett
HNTB Construction Project Manager
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