Officials explain HOT lanes beltway project

By Uriah A. Kiser

Published: September 3, 2008

OCCOQUAN — Local, state and federal officials gathered last week to discuss new High Occupancy Toll lanes designed to bail commuters out of gridlock.

With the addition of HOT lanes to the Capital Beltway, the $1.9 billion project will introduce express lanes to both the inner and outer loops from the Springfield Mixing Bowl to the Dulles Toll Road. The new lanes will offer relief to Tysons Corner commuters, utilizing an HOV system that commuters on Interstates 95 and 395 have enjoyed for years.

A panel of transportation experts spoke to area business owners at a Prince William Regional Chamber of Commerce breakfast in Occoquan on Aug. 29.

“We are not talking about tolls that are fixed. We are talking about tolls that will vary depending upon peak times,” said Ron Kirby of the U.S. Department of Transportation.

Kirby said the lanes would operate similarly to ones in Los Angeles and San Diego, where prices fluctuate every six minutes depending on how many cars are on the roadway. He added that the project is unique because instead of building new roadways, it calls for adding tolls to existing roads.

Virginia Secretary of Transportation Pierce Homer lauded the Beltway project.

“The most important thing that we are doing with this project is offering commuters choice” said Homer. Although some reports contend that tolls could cost single-driving commuters $1 or more per mile, Homer said that toll prices for the road have not been finalized. The secretary said very few single drivers would use the lanes on a daily basis, with drivers instead using them only in emergencies or when trying to make appointments on time.

The chamber said at least 91 percent of businesses in the region attribute traffic congestion as having a negative impact on commerce, which is why the state is pushing for the construction of these lanes using public-private partnerships.

According to VDOT, studies began in the late 1980s on how to improve traffic flow on the Beltway from Springfield to the American Legion Bridge. The HOT lanes plan was adopted in 2002, and nearly three years later Australian-based Fluor-Transurban agreed to design, build, operate and maintain the lanes under the public-private transportation act.

Under the terms of the contract Fluor-Transurban will operate the lanes for 80 years, which caused some at the meeting to question the ethics of outsourcing Virginia’s infrastructure to companies that operate outside the U.S.

Carpools and mass transit will be allowed to use the lanes without paying a toll, similar to the current operation of HOV lanes on I-95. Construction on the
Beltway lanes is expected to be complete by 2013.