Toll Road Hell

Beltway To Get Va. Toll Lanes
Two Private Firms Will Fund Widening To Ease Congestion

Washington Post | April 29, 2005
By Steven Ginsberg

Construction of the first major expansion of the Capital Beltway in a generation could start as soon as next year, Virginia transportation officials said yesterday after signing a deal with two private firms to build toll lanes for a speedier ride on 14 miles of the chronically clogged highway.

The deal calls for adding two lanes in each direction of the Beltway, separated from other traffic, between Springfield and Georgetown Pike near the Maryland border. The high-occupancy toll -- or HOT -- lanes would be free for vehicles containing three or more people; other drivers would pay to use them. To keep the lanes from clogging, tolls would increase with the amount of traffic.

The state would not have to pay anything for the new lanes. The private companies would invest the entire $900 million cost of the project in exchange for all or part of the toll revenue.

"For drivers in Northern Virginia, it'll mean new capacity, which is something that has not been offered in a long time," said Transportation Commissioner Philip A. Shucet. "It means a new opportunity for HOV and transit, and it means a choice for drivers who want to pay for a faster commute."

The lanes represent the first step in what regional leaders hope is an extensive network of toll lanes across the region. Virginia officials are considering additional HOT lanes on parts of Interstates 95 and 395, and Maryland officials are exploring express toll lanes on the Beltway, I-270, the Baltimore Beltway and I-95 north of Baltimore.

Maryland officials said yesterday that they are in the early stage of studying Beltway toll lanes. "We're a few steps behind Virginia," said Valerie Burnette Edgar, spokeswoman for the Maryland State Highway Administration.

Critics once derided such lanes as "Lexus lanes" -- arguing that they favor the wealthy and were a double tax on roads that motorists already pay for -- but have changed their minds because studies have shown that they are used by people of all incomes and, in this case, because no state money is being used.

The concept is in use in California and Texas and is being considered in several other states as governments look for ways to finance roads when most budgets are shrinking. HOT lanes are scheduled to open in Minneapolis and Denver this year.

Local officials said they envision a limited number of people paying what could be several dollars a day to use the lanes but a greater number of people using them when they urgently need to get to work, a child's ballgame or elsewhere.

State officials said that Fluor Enterprises Inc. and Transurban Group will pay to build the lanes, which could open in 2010. They will also operate and maintain them. State and company officials said they haven't worked out how the firms will recoup their investment, but a likely scenario is that they will receive revenue through 2065. State officials added that there would be a cap to prevent "obscene" profits.

Tolls would rise during the morning and evening rush hours when traffic balloons. State officials said they're not sure how much the tolls will be. In other states, tolls start at 25 cents and can hit $8 for a one-way trip.

The lanes will be in the middle of the Beltway and will have several access points, including one at Tysons Corner. Through drivers would merge back into the regular lanes at either end.

State officials said that a minimal amount of property is needed and that six homes would have to be purchased to widen the Beltway.

Transportation experts said there are concerns that come with this type of deal, especially because so much money is involved. For the firms to make a profit, they have an incentive to reduce the number of free users. The easiest way to do that is to raise the number of people required for free access, which the state can do.

"If you're expecting to get HOV-3 and ride for free, it's not clear that's going to be possible at this stage," said Ronald F. Kirby, transportation planning director of the Metropolitan Washington Council of Governments.

Herb Morgan, vice president of operations for Fluor, said his company is basing its calculations on vehicles containing three people.

Another concern is enforcement, which is a chronic problem in carpool lanes. Ken Daley of Transurban, which will manage the toll system, said that motorists will be monitored by video or police.

The deal marks a new standard in Virginia for private road investment. For the past several years, Virginia has partnered with private firms to build a handful of roads at substantial cost to the state. Other projects have stalled because the state doesn't have funds to make deals work.

In the case of the Beltway project, Virginia announced its intention to work with Fluor last summer but lacked roughly $200 million that was needed. So Fluor found another investor to share the cost.

Highway bill could pave way toward more tolls on interstates

Boston Globe |  April 10, 2005
By Alan Wirzbicki

WASHINGTON -- A provision in the $284 billion highway bill under consideration on Capitol Hill could open the way for more tolls on the nation's congested interstates, marking a departure from long-standing federal highway policy that has traditionally frowned on collecting tolls to pay for roads built with federal tax dollars.

Under the transportation bill passed by the House of Representatives last month, states would be allowed to convert overall up to 25 segments of the interstate highway system into toll roads over the next six years. The Senate is expected to vote on similar legislation this month.

The proposals, backed by the Bush administration, would ''greatly expand state tolling authority" over roads that were constructed with federal dollars, said Darrin Roth, the director of highway operations for the American Trucking Association, which opposes the changes.

Currently, only highways such as the Massachusetts Turnpike that were begun before the establishment of the free interstate system in 1956 can collect tolls.

The proposal marks a response to the growing clamor among state highway officials that the federal government's gas tax of 18.4 cents per gallon is no longer enough to fund the nation's transportation needs. Congress has little appetite to raise the tax, leaving tolls as one of the few remaining funding options for road builders.

''Gas taxes are deemed something we can't touch. It's political suicide to add a gas tax," said Neil Gray, a spokesman for the International Bridge, Tunnel, and Turnpike Association in Washington. ''In that bind, what are your options? You can't do nothing."

Backers of the proposed legislation envision states adding toll lanes with less traffic next to existing free highways, giving motorists a choice, but opponents say the bill could also allow states to simply turn existing interstates into toll-only roads.

While only one state, Virginia, has specifically requested permission to charge tolls on a stretch of Interstate 81 in the Shenandoah Valley, the spread of technology for Fast Lane and EZ-Pass has eased concerns about safety and congestion around toll plazas and made tolls more attractive to highway officials.

Both the House and Senate legislation mandate that any new tolls would have to use Fast Lane or a similar device.

In New England, Connecticut lawmakers are considering charging tolls on I-95 for the first time since 1985, and other congested Northeastern states could be tempted to take advantage of the tolling proposal if it clears Congress.

A Boston city councilor recently proposed charging commuters for entering the downtown area, and state Representative Joseph F. Wagner, chairman of Massachusetts' Joint Committee on Transportation, has said that the Commonwealth needed to consider tolls as a way of meeting its highway needs.

Some states have also expressed interest in using electronic tolls to adopt ''congestion pricing," a practice already in use in some parts of Europe that aims to encourage motorists to drive during off-peak hours by lowering tolls during off-peak hours.

On one stretch of highway near San Diego that uses congestion pricing, tolls vary from as low as 50 cents in the middle of the night to $8 when the highway gets particularly congested.

By providing an incentive to drive outside of rush hour, Gray said, ''you're spreading the peak."

''It doesn't even matter if you make money," he said. ''If you can make the roadway operate more rationally, that's what you're looking for."

In March, the US House of Representatives defeated an amendment that would have required such lanes to become free once their costs had been recouped in tolls. Instead, under the House bill, states that adopt congestion pricing would be allowed to keep it as a mechanism to fight congestion and fund other transportation projects.

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