MDX's Toll Adjustment Helps Fund Needed Improvements
FAQ's
After a series of six public review workshops were held throughout Miami-Dade County to allow residents to learn about MDX plans in detail and to provide comments, this two-tier toll adjustment was approved by the MDX Board of Directors in February 2004.
MDX expressways are self-funded. That means that people who use the expressways pay to use them. MDX gets no funds from gasoline taxes or from any other national, state or local tax sources. Also, the tolls collected on MDX toll roads stay right in Miami-Dade County and are used to fund road operations, capital improvements, roadway maintenance and road services on the MDX expressway system.
The toll adjustment will ensure that MDX has sufficient cash flow to maintain its historically high rating from bond underwriters. A high bond rating allows MDX to save millions of dollars in interest costs over the span of a typical bond issue. These bond issues fund the much-needed capital improvements and visionary innovations that MDX is implementing through both its Five-Year TIP and its 20-year Master Transportation Plan.
What are the new toll rates?
The new cash toll for two-axle vehicles will be $1.25. This increase represents a rise of $.25 from the current rate of $1.00 on SRs 836, SR 874 and SR 924. On SR 112, the current lower toll differential will be eliminated and the toll rises from $.75 to $1.25, equalizing that toll rate with the other three expressways.
SunPass users will save money over cash-paying vehicles. SunPass is available at Publix Supermarkets, Sedanos Pharmacies, CVS/Pharmacy, and Navarro Pharmacies. The savings with SunPass grow incrementally for vehicles with more than two axles, as illustrated below.
The new SunPass and cash toll rates for two-axle and multi-axle vehicles at all MDX toll plazas are as follows:
Toll Rates Effective July 3, 2005:
| Vehicles | SunPass | Cash |
|---|---|---|
| 2 axles | $1.00 | $1.25 |
| 3 axles | $2.00 | $2.50 |
| 4 axles | $3.00 | $3.75 |
| 5 axles | $4.00 | $5.00 |
| each additional axle | $1.00 | $1.25 |
How will users benefit?
MDX's Five-Year TIP (2006-2010) is bringing near-term critical improvements to the 31-mile MDX system. Key projects include:
- Construction of the SR 836 Extension to 137th Avenue, currently underway and expected to be completed in 2007
- Improvements to the SR 836 interchange at NW 57th Avenue and at LeJeune Road
- Road widening of SR 836 from NW 57th Avenue to the SR 826 Palmetto Expressway
- Widening of SR 112 at the LeJeune Road/NW 36th Street Interchange
- Widening of the SR 874 interchange at Killian Parkway
- Addition of an on-ramp from Kendall Drive to SR 874 northbound
Master Plan projects include the SR 836 and I-95 Interchange; the extension of SR 924 to the Turnpike; the SR 874 ramp extensions over the Turnpike; and project development of the Interconnector between SR 836 and SR 112 with access to the Miami Intermodel Center (MIC) and Miami International Airport. This new toll increase will also help fund, in partnership with FDOT District 6, future improvements of the SR 836/826 Palmetto Interchange.
Additionally, the Master Plan will deliver construction and technology innovations such as the Managed Lanes system on SR 836 as well as the expansion of electronic toll collecting with SunPass and Open Road Tolling.
Open Road Tolling is a technology advance that will collect tolls from SunPass users traveling at normal highway speeds throughout the MDX expressway system. Currently, "The Wing," the Express SunPass lanes on SR 836 eastbound, is the first open road tolling operation in any urban area in the state of Florida.
MDX's innovations are aimed at relieving traffic congestion, making system travel safer and more predictable, saving drivers time and money, and reducing gasoline consumption and pollution in a county with an anticipated population growth of close to 60 percent over the next 20 years.
A recent study by Washington Economics Group (WEG) predicts that the Five-Year Plan's completion will reduce highway congestion sufficiently to eliminate an estimated 20.3 million vehicle-delay hours each year. In layman's terms, that means that the elimination of these motorist delays will have a positive economic impact of more than $580 million each year.
The Transportation Improvement Program's capital projects alone have an estimated economic impact of $1.3 billion over the five years of the work. More than 13,400 jobs across a broad range of occupations are tied to the TIP.
