Here’s an innovative politician:
Supervisor Pat Herrity (R-Springfield) asked staff last week to look into the cost of a study determining how much money the county could charge developers for the right to build over the Toll Road and new Silver Line Metro stations.
Herrity calls these “air rights” and wants to use revenues to reduce expected Dulles Toll Road rate increases. More on The Herndon Patch.
Perhaps this child will have a future in transportation. She seemed in such a hurry to get out the mother did not quite make it to the hospital in time. From CBS DC:
The Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority said it received a 911 call just after 7 a.m. Monday from a couple who was pulled over on Dulles Toll Road and expecting to deliver a baby.
When a medical crew from Dulles Airport arrived at the couple’s vehicle on the shoulder of eastbound Dulles Toll Road near Exit 10, a baby girl already had been delivered.
The mother and newborn were taken in an ambulance to nearby Reston Hospital. The father followed in the family’s Honda, which doubled as the delivery room.
Both the mother and newborn are doing fine, officials said.
Well, this is depressing for all those law abiding, toll paying customers of the Dulles Toll Road. A million cars a year apparently don’t pay a toll, they send bills to only 10% of the scofflaws, and only 30% of those who get the bills pay them, meaning 97% break the law and get away with it.
Since tolls are used to pay for the Silver Line, the effect is to push out the date when all the bonds will be repaid and (theoretically) tolls won’t be needed anymore, or could at least be reduced.
Another reason to hiss at these scofflaws.
Better save most of your holiday bonus (if you get one) for paying higher tolls on the Dulles Toll road come January 1, 2013. This is not a surprise but still won’t be pleasant news for commuters on the road:
The Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority, which operates the road in addition to Dulles and Reagan Airports, voted Wednesday to raise one-way rates by 50 cents in 2013 and another 75 cents in 2014.
The current one-way fare for a trip on the full length of the toll road is $2.25. That includes $1.50 at the main toll plaza and 75 cents at the other exits.
At least the new I-495 toll express lanes will save you time. Unless you are in the carpool lane, on the Dulles Toll Road you get to pay to drive it and still are stuck in traffic.
The bottom line, effective January 1, 2013:
Assuming you commute to work through on the toll road, that’s an extra dollar a day, or $5 a week. More increases are expected in subsequent years to help pay for the Silver Line.
Do you have comments on proposed increases to the fares on the Dulles Toll Road? We bet you do! Fare increases are proposed to help finance the Silver Line to Dulles and beyond. If so you have an opportunity to have your voice heard at public hearings scheduled over the next few weeks, or by mail.
30-Day Public Comment Period about Proposed Toll Increases Now Open
Exhibits are Available Online and at Upcoming Public HearingsThe Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority has opened a public comment period about proposed toll rate increases along the Dulles Toll Road. The tolls support operation of the Toll Road, construction of the Dulles Corridor Metrorail Project and Dulles Toll Road improvements.
Under the toll rate proposal, the combined main plaza and ramp tolls, presently $2.25 for 2-axle vehicles, would increase according to this schedule:
- $2.75 in 2013
- $3.50 in 2014
- $4.50 in 2015
Informational exhibits, including an “On-Line Open House,” are now available at www.mwaa.com/tollroad. Public comments may be submitted online or through the mail between now and September 16 (click here for mailing address), or in person at one of three upcoming public hearings along the Dulles corridor. The hearings will be conducted in an open house format at these locations, dates and times:
Thursday, September 6, 2012 from 5:00 to 8:00 p.m.
Stone Bridge High School – Cafeteria
43100 Hay Road, Ashburn, VA 20147Wednesday, September 12, 2012 from 5:00 to 8:00 p.m.
South Lakes High School – Cafeteria
11400 South Lakes Drive, Reston, VA 20191Thursday, September 13, 2012 from 5:00 to 8:00 p.m.
Spring Hill Elementary School
8201 Lewinsville Road, McLean, VA 22102
The hearings will include informational exhibits about the Dulles Corridor Metrorail Project, the cost and financing of the Dulles Corridor Metrorail Project and potential improvements that may be made to the Dulles Toll Road, and the cost of operating the Toll Road. Representatives from the Airports Authority will be present to discuss these items.
The Airports Authority is responsible for the construction of Metrorail through the Dulles Corridor. As part of this program, the Commonwealth of Virginia transferred the operation of the Dulles Toll Road to the Airports Authority in 2008 under a 50-year permit to operate and improve the Toll Road and to use the revenues from the tolls to help finance the rail construction and other improvements to the Toll Road and the Dulles Corridor.
For more information about the Dulles Rail Project and the Dulles Toll Road, please visit www.mwaa.com.
According to the Washington Post, the Reston Citizens Association is concerned that other thoroughfares like Leesburg Pike will become slower and congested. They say this will happen when the Dulles Toll Road raises fare to an expected $4.50 a trip by 2014.
“The tolls will be doubling in 2014,” said Terry Maynard, a member of the Reston 2020 Committee and the group’s board. “That’s going to drive a large portion of toll-road traffic to local roads, and the local roads are already crowded. The congestion will be that much worse.”
Even more ominous:
The Reston 2020 Committee expects that between 2014 and 2030, daily traffic volumes on local roads could rise by an additional 25,000 to 35,000 vehicles as drivers look for alternatives to the toll road. By then, toll rates are predicted to cost $10.75 each way, according to its report titled “The Dulles Corridor Transportation Planning Fail.”
Oak Hill residents may not have reason to celebrate New Years this year, particularly if you commute down the Dulles Toll Road (Route 267). Tolls will increase from $2.00 a trip to $2.25 a trip, with the extra quarter to be paid at the main toll plaza. The extra revenue will help support the construction of the Silver Line to Dulles International Airport.
It’s not just Dulles Toll Road commuters who are affected. Tolls on the Dulles Greenway are rising as well.
Drivers on the Greenway, a privately owned toll road in Loudoun County, will pay as much as $5.55 to travel from Leesburg to Washington, D.C., during peak hours after the rate increase.
The Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority, new owners of Dulles Toll road, is soliciting opinions from the public about a draft of its noise policy for the road.
The Airports Authority is holding a public workshop on the draft policy on Thursday, June 10th, at Langston Hughes Middle School in Reston, Virginia from 5:30 PM- 8:30 PM.
At that public workshop, the Airports Authority staff will be available to discuss the draft policy, provide additional information, and take comments. In addition, the comment period will be open from June 1- June 30.
To see the Dulles Toll Road Highway Noise Policy and documents from the public workshop or to comment, please visit: http://www.mwaa.com/tollroad/2941.htm
Public comment on the draft policy will be accepted from June 1- June 30. Once this comment period is complete, the policy will go to the Airports Authority Board of Directors for review and final approval.