Deseret Morning News DENVER - Walking down an underground tunnel Thursday, Colorado transportation officials guided members of the Utah Department of Transportation into a new lifeline of Denver transportation - a toll booth on E-470.

Ken Papaleo, Rocky Mountain NewsCars travel on E-470 south of Smokey Hill Road, going past new neighborhoods. The toll road has eased congestion on the Denver area's freeways. It was built with private funding, to be fully paid back in 2076. An average of 150,000 toll transactions are handled every day on the 47-mile toll road spanning five counties, Colorado highway administrators report.

Some motorists stop to pay the $1.75 while others pass at full speed as the toll is electronically deducted from their pre-paid express account.

The operation in Denver is getting a firsthand look by Utah transportation administrators looking for innovative options in handling the critical transportation needs along the Wasatch Front over the next 30 years and the projected $23 billion shortfall in meeting them.

In the upcoming legislative session, Sen. Sheldon Killpack, R-Syracuse, plans to sponsor a bill allowing UDOT to enter into partnerships with private companies to build toll roads. By allowing a private group to cover costs of construction in exchange for toll revenue, a road can be built in years rather than decades, he said.

UDOT is also studying whether the Mountain View Corridor, a proposed freeway that would run along the west side of Salt Lake County into Utah County, should be a toll road. As with most other "new capacity" road projects in Utah, no funding exists to build the freeway.

Colorado officials said Denver was Salt Lake 15 years ago: As they looked down Denver's roads they saw gridlock and nowhere near enough state funding for a new highway.

"Without private funding, it wouldn't have ever been built," said E-470 executive director Edward DeLozier. When asked how Denver's roads would be today without the toll road, DeLozier summed it up in one word: "Miserable."

During the whirlwind, one-day tour, UDOT administrators and several state transportation commissioners were shown how cash is collected and security is managed. They were also told that Utah made a big contribution to the toll road's snow removal program: 2002 Winter Games officials sold E-470 several barely used snowplows. "We got a great deal," DeLozier said.

While the road is managed by the authority, the purse strings are controlled by a board of directors made up of every elected official from every city and county through which E-470 passes.

Until three years ago, the E-470 authority managed to pay off all city and county debt and refinance the debt. The road will remain semi-private up until 2076 when it is completely paid off and will be turned over to the state.

DeLozier said cash savings are critical to ensure there is enough money to repave and repair it. He told UDOT officials that a "sinking fund" is set aside to ensure perpetual road repairs well into the future. Repairs have plagued toll roads in Eastern states as many toll roads, some many decades old, fall into disrepair.

Of course, not every motorist pays the toll. When a motorist crosses a toll area without an electronic pass or paying cash, a series of cameras snap photos of the vehicle's rear license plate.

At the E-470 operations center, several employees spend time reading violator photos and sending out bills. The owner of the automobile, not necessarily the actual driver, is responsible for paying up.

Deseret Morning News graphic E-470 director David Kristick said they get about 8,000 to 9,000 violators a day. Many of them intend to pay later or may not have their e-pass set up properly. Of those, Kristick said 400 to 500 are considered true deadbeats that add up to about 27,000 toll violations a month.

With all the high-tech innovations, some violators have found a rather low-tech solution: mud on the plates. Kristick said they have had some trucking companies busted for muddying their plates.

Unpaid tolls are sent to Colorado's court system and unpaid tolls allow motor vehicle officials to refuse to renew the vehicles' annual registration.

UDOT is taking the idea of toll roads seriously, but it will be up to the Utah Legislature to have the final say if Utah is ready for such a shift in a state where roads have been considered bought and paid for up front.

"We've got to find a new model," said John Njord, executive director of the Utah Department of Transportation. "Whether toll roads happen in Utah is a debate of public policy."

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